0  .V42  lyoa 
Vedder   Henry  c.  1853-1935 
Christian  eDoch-m=i,^^_   "^^ 


epoch-makers 


CHRISTIAN 
EPOCH-MAKERS 


CHRISTIAN 
EPOCH-MAKERS 


The  Story  of  the  Great 
Missionary  Eras  in  the 
History  of  Christianity 


"By  X^ 


Henry  C.  Vedder 

Professor  of  Church  History  in  Cro{er 
Theological  Seminary 


PHILADELPHIA 

AMERICAN  Baptist  Publication  Society 

Boston  Chicago  Atlanta 

New  YORK       St.  Louis  Dallas 


Copyright  1908  by  the 
American  Baptist  Publication  Society 

Published  June,   1908 


jfrom  tbc  Socfet^'s  own  prces 


TO 

Milliam  Hdbmore 

WHO  FOR  FIFTY  GOLDEN  YEARS 
BY  PRECEPT  AND  EXAMPLE  HAS 
TAUGHT  CHINA  THE  GOSPEL, 
AND  AMERICA  THE  WORTH  OF 
FOREIGN  MISSIONS 


PREFACE 


"  There  is  a  law  of  the  imagination,  forcing  it  to  de- 
mand a  concrete  and  personal  center,  around  which  (as  a 
flint  gathers  around  some  organic  substance  in  the  chalk) 
its  floating  historical  conceptions  shall  dispose  them- 
selves." '  These  words,  though  they  in  no  way  suggested 
the  writing  of  this  book,  not  inaptly  describe  its  organ- 
izing idea.  The  chapters  following  are  the  outgrowth  of 
the  author's  experience  in  teaching  the  history  of  Chris- 
tian missions  to  his  classes  for  more  than  a  dozen  years. 
No  method  is  so  practically  effective  in  arousing  the 
student's  interest  and  in  helping  him  see  the  facts  in  their 
true  perspective  as  the  biographical.  Many  books  already 
exist  that  tell  the  story  of  Christian  missions,  but  none 
pursue  this  method.  And  yet  the  subject  is  one  peculiarly 
fitted  for  biographical  treatment — indeed,  it  cannot  be 
treated  in  any  other  way  without  most  inadequate  pres- 
entation of  the  facts. 

It  will  occur  to  some  readers,  possibly,  that  other 
chapters  ought  to  have  been  added  on  modern  mission- 
aries, the  absence  of  whose  names  they  will  mark  and 
deplore.  But  a  little  further  consideration  will  make  it 
plain  that  this  would  have  been  incompatible  with  the 
plan  of  the  book.  If  one  were  attempting  to  give  a  com- 
plete history  of  missions,  or  even  a  fairly  complete  col- 
lection of  missionary  biographies,  the  omission  of  such 
names  as  Brainerd,  Morrison,  Paton,  Neesima,  would  in- 
deed be  inexcusable.     What  has  been  attempted  is,  to 

*  Curteis,  "  Dissent  in  its  relation  to  the  Church  of  England."  The 
Bampton  Lectures  for   1871,  p.   344. 

vii 


VIU  PREFACE 

study  in  turn  each  of  the  great  missionary  epochs  or  move- 
ments of  the  Christian  ages,  grouping  the  saHent  facts  of 
each  about  the  personaHty  of  the  missionary  who  was  the 
leader  of  the  movement.  It  is  beheved  that  an  adequate 
idea  may  thus  be  conveyed  to  the  reader  of  the  signifi- 
cance and  value  of  each  missionary  era,  and  of  its  relation 
to  the  entire  course  of  Christian  missions.  If  a  sound 
foundation  can  thus  be  laid,  study  of  the  details  of  mis- 
sionary history  can  be  pursued,  to  the  limit  of  opportunity 
and  material,  with  the  certainty  that  the  result  will  not  be 
absolute  mental  bewilderment,  but  precise  knowledge  and 
correct  apprehension. 

The  study  of  missions  under  the  auspices  of  the  various 
missionary  organizations  is  now  being  prosecuted  by  a 
multitude  of  people,  young  and  old,  with  a  great  deal  of 
hearty  good-will  and  an  energy  most  praiseworthy,  but 
with  very  little  system.  It  is  certain  that  the  result  of 
such  study  will  be  the  accumulation  of  a  quantity  of 
miscellaneous  information  about  missions,  but  very  little 
knowledge.  The  reading  of  some  good  general  outline 
of  missionary  history  is  indispensable,  if  our  young 
people  would  avoid  a  serious  case  of  mental  dyspepsia. 
It  is  not  pretended  that  this  is  the  only  book  available,  but 
it  is  believed  to  have  certain  features  that  will  make  it 
both  welcome  and  effective.  At  all  events,  the  author 
cherishes  the  hope  that  whoever  carefully  studies  "  Chris- 
tian Epoch-Makers  "  will  find  that,  if  he  has  learned  less 
than  he  might  have  wished,  he  has  nothing  to  unlearn. 

Crozer  Theological  Seminary,  May  i,  1908. 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

I 

The  Philosophy  of  Christian  Missions i 

II 
Paul:  Missions  of  the  Apostolic  Age 19 

III 
Ulfilas:  The  Conversion  of  the  Barbarians 41 

IV 
Patrick:  The  Apostle  to   Ireland 61 

V 

Augustine:  Christianity  in   Angle- land 81 

VI 
Boniface:  Germany  Evangelized loi 

VII 
Ansgar:  The  Gospel  in  Scandinavia 123 

VIII 
Vladimir:  The  Conversion  of  the  Slavs 141 

IX 
Raimund  Lull:  The   Dark  Age  of  Missions 161 

X 

Francis  of  Assisi:  The  Missions  of  the  Gray  Friars  .  179 

XI 

Xavier:  The  Missions  of  the  Jesuits. 201 

ix 


X  CONTENTS 

Pagb 

XII 
Ziegenbalg:  The  First  Protestant  Missionary  ....  223 

XIII 
Schwartz:  The  Educational   Idea  in  Missions  ....  245 

XIV 
Zinzendorf:  The  Moravian  Pioneers  in  Modern  Missions  265 

'  XV 

Carey:  The  Missionary  Revival  in  England 283 

XVi 
Martyn:  The  First  Modern  Missionary  to  the  Moham- 
medans   303 

XVII 
Judson:  The  Beginning  of  Missions  in  America  .    .    .  323 

XVIII 
Livingstone:  Light-bearer  to  the   Dark  Continent  .  343 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN 
MISSIONS 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

The  classic  on  this  subject  is  Carey's  Enquiry  Into  the  Obliga- 
tions of  Christians  to  Use  Means  for  the  Conversion  of  the 
Heathens.  A  facsimile  reprint  of  the  edition  of  1792  was  pub- 
lished in  London  in  1891.  Anderson,  Foreign  Missions:  Their 
Relations  and  Claims  (Boston,  1870),  is  excellent,  and  so  is 
Harris,  The  Great  Commission:  or  the  Christian  Church  Consti- 
tuted and  Charged  to  Carry  the  Gospel  to  the  World  (latest  ed., 
London,  1852).  More  recent  books  are:  Pierson,  The  Divine 
Enterprise  of  Missions  (New  York,  1891)  ;  Gordon,  The  Holy 
Spirit  in  Missions  (New  York,  1893)  ;  Mott,  The  Evangelization 
of  the  World  in  this  Generation  (New  York,  1900)  ;  and,  best  as 
well  as  latest  of  all,  Clarke,  A  Study  of  Christian  Missions 
(New  York,  1900).  Besides  these  monographs  on  the  subject, 
there  is  incidental  discussion  of  it  often  very  suggestive,  in 
many  books  on  the  history  of  missions,  such  as:  Thompson, 
Foreign  Missions,  Lectures  II  and  HI  (New  York,  1889)  ;  War- 
neck,  History  of  Protestant  Missions,  "Introduction"  (New 
York,  1902)  ;  proceedings  of  the  Ecumenical  Missionary  Confer- 
ence, 1900,  Vol.  I,  pp.  67-103  (New  York,  1900).  There  are 
pertinent  chapters  also  in  the  following  discussions  of  funda- 
mental principles  and  practical  problems  of  missions :  Ellinwood, 
Questions  and  Phases  of  Modern  Missions  (New  York,  1899)  ; 
Barton,  The  Missionary  and  his  Critics  (New  York,  1907)  ; 
Brown,  The  Foreign  Missionary  (New  York,  1907).  The  fol- 
lowing also  contain  material  germane  to  the  subject:  Seelye, 
Christian  Missions  (New  York,  1875)  ;  Centenary  Missionary 
Addresses  (Philadelphia,  1893)  ;  Speer,  Missionary  Principles  and 
Practice  (New  York,  1892)  ;  Mabie,  Meaning  and  Message  of  the 
Cross.  Last  but  not  least  are  two  once  celebrated  sermons,  now 
undeservedly  forgotten :  "  The  Moral  Dignity  of  Missions,"  by 
Francis  Wayland,  and  "  Missions  the  Chief  End  of  the  Church," 
by  Alexander  Duff,  both  of  which  may  be  found  in  Fish's  Pulpit 
Eloquence  of  the  Nineteenth  Century  (New  York,  1857). 


THE    PHILOSOPHY    OF    CHRISTIAN     MISSIONS 

THE  history  of  Christianity  is  a  history  of  missions. 
That  such  is  the  fact  is  indisputable,  and  that  such 
is  the  fact  is  no  accident.  In  its  essence  Christianity  is 
a  missionary  rehgion.  It  was  proclaimed  such  before- 
hand. The  promise  to  Abraham  was  that  in  him  should 
all  the  nations  of  the  earth  be  blessed/  and  prophets  fore- 
told the  day  when  all  nations  should  come  and  worship 
before  God."  To  the  Messiah  the  nations  were  to  be 
given  as  an  inheritance ; '  of  the  increase  of  his  govern- 
ment there  should  be  no  end ;  dominion  should  be  given 
him,  and  glory,  and  kingdoms,  that  all  people,  nations, 
and  tongues  should  serve  him — a  kingdom  that  should 
never  pass  away.*  Christianity  was  thus  decreed  in  the 
eternal  counsels  of  God  to  be  a  world  religion.  The 
kingdom  of  heaven  is  to  progress  among  men  by  con- 
tinuous conquest,  until  the  whole  earth  is  subject  to  the 
King. 

These  martial  figures  describe  the  peaceful  victories 
of  Christian  missions,  but  they  describe  a  religion  totally 
different  in  spirit  and  purpose  from  the  Judaism  whence 
it  sprang.  For  Judaism — the  actual  Judaism  of  history, 
as  distinguished  from  the  divine  ideal  of  Judaism  em- 
bodied in  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures — was  essentially 
an  ethnic  religion ;  that  is,  it  expressed  in  the  most  perfect 
form  the  peculiar  religious  ideas,  aspirations,  and  hopes 
of  a  single  race.  The  very  features  of  an  ethnic  religion 
that  give  it  its  vogue  among  tribes  and  peoples  descended 

*Gen.    i8  :   i8.  ^  pg.    86  :  9.  '  Isa.    9  :  7.  «  Dan.  7  ■   M- 

3 


4  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

from  the  same  stock,  limit  its  spread  beyond  that  race. 
Judaism  differed  from  the  other  ethnic  rehgions,  it  is  true, 
in  that  it  contained  a  larger  divine  element  mingled  with 
the  human.  The  prophets  who  from  time  to  time  brought 
to  Israel  messages  from  God  have  no  counterparts  in  the 
other  ethnic  religions.  But  the  teaching  of  the  prophets 
did  not  and  could  not  change  the  fundamental  charac- 
ter of  Judaism,  They  did  not  transform  the  religion  of 
the  Hebrews  into  something  other  than  an  ethnic  re- 
ligion; they  merely  elevated  it  to  the  first  place  among 
the  ethnic  religions.  But  precisely  because  it  still  re- 
mained essentially  ethnic,  it  could  not  become  universal. 
Judaism,  therefore,  as  it  existed  when  Jesus  proclaimed 
himself  to  be  its  Messiah,  had  become  essentially  ex- 
clusive and  non-missionary.  Its  root  idea  was  separation. 
God  had  chosen  the  Hebrew  race  from  all  the  nations,  as 
every  Jew  delighted  to  recall,  and  exalted  it  to  the  privi- 
lege of  being  his  peculiar  people.^  The  idea  that  these 
privileges  should  ever  be  extended  to  other  peoples  was 
gall  and  wormwood  to  the  Jew.  The  universal  dominion 
of  Messiah,  as  he  conceived  it,  was  to  result,  not  in  in- 
corporating the  Gentiles  into  the  chosen  race,  but  in  mak- 
ing the  Jew  the  dominant  force  of  the  future,  as  the 
Roman  was  of  the  (then)  present.  And  therefore, 
though  there  was  some  proselyting  among  the  Gentiles, 
especially  among  the  rich  and  the  official  class,  the  num- 
ber of  proselytes  was  always  relatively  insignificant. 
There  was  never  any  general  and  active  propaganda. 
Proselytism  was  a  matter  of  individual  activity  always ; 
of  anything  like  a  concerted  attempt  to  convert  the  world 
to  Judaism  there  is  not  only  no  trace  in  Jewish  history, 
but  there  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  such  an  idea  was 
ever  entertained  as  possible,  or  even  as  desirable.  Such 
a  purpose  would  have  been  inconceivable  by  a  Jew,  for 

^  Deut.    14  :  2;  30  :  3;  Jer.   29  :   14. 


THE    PHILOSOPHY    OF    CHRISTIAN    MISSIONS  5 

the  bare  idea  was  at  variance  with  his  most  deeply  cher- 
ished prejudices  and  hopes.  Those  who  treat  Judaism 
as  one  of  the  world's  missionary  religions  must  have  re- 
gard altogether  to  its  ideal,  as  set  forth  in  its  sacred 
writings,  not  to  the  religion  in  its  historic  development 
and  actual  form. 

It  was,  indeed,  one  of  the  early  and  bitter  complaints 
of  the  Jews  that  Jesus  set  at  naught  their  traditions  of 
exclusiveness,  "  Your  Master  receiveth  publicans  and 
sinners  and  eateth  with  them,"  they  said  to  the  disciples 
— at  once  reproach  and  protest.  With  the  prophetic  in- 
sight of  hatred  they  saw  the  downfall  of  their  exclusive 
national  privileges  should  the  teaching  and  practice  of 
Jesus  prevail.  In  vain  did  he  declare  that  he  came  not 
to  destroy,  but  to  fulfil  the  law ;  for  what  he  meant  by 
fulfilment  was  what  they  understood  to  be  destruction, 
and  from  their  narrow  ethnic  point  of  view  they  were 
right.  But  Jesus  could  not  be  restrained  within  the  nar- 
row limitations  of  Judaism :  '*  The  Son  of  man  is  come 
to  seek  and  to  save  that  which  was  lost,"  summarized 
his  mission — not  the  lost  of  any  one  nation,  but  all  the 
lost.  And  this  universality  of  his  mission  Jesus  summed 
up  into  a  guiding  principle  for  all  time  in  his  parting 
words  to  his  disciples :  "  Go  ye  therefore,  and  make  dis- 
ciples of  all  the  nations,  baptizing  them  into  the  name 
of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost: 
teaching  them  to  observe  all  things  whatsoever  I  com- 
manded you :  and  lo,  I  am  with  you  alway,  even  unto 
the  end  of  the  age." 

It  is  true  that  some  of  the  wise  critics  now  tell  us  that 
these  words  in  the  Gospel  of  Matthew  are  not  part  of  the 
primitive  tradition,  but  the  integrity  of  the  text  of  the 
Acts  of  the  Apostles  is  not  questioned,  and  according  to 
Luke,  the  same  injunction  was  given :  "  And  ye  shall  be 
my  witnesses,  both  in  Jerusalem,  and  in  all  Judea  and 


6  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

Samaria,  and  unto  the  uttermost  part  of  the  earth."  It 
will  be  necessary  to  do  much  more  than  expunge  the 
Great  Commission  to  rid  Christianity  of  this  fundamental 
missionary  idea.  The  entire  New  Testament,  Gospels 
and  Epistles  alike,  must  be  rewritten — nay,  all  memory 
of  the  life  and  character  of  Jesus  Christ  must  be  eradi- 
cated from  the  minds  of  men — before  Christianity  can 
cease  to  be  a  missionary  religion. 

For  the  raison  d'etre  of  Christian  missions  is  not  found 
in  any  single  command — not  even  in  words  that  for  ages 
have  been  so  precious  and  so  sacred  to  the  whole  Chris- 
tian world  as  those  of  the  Great  Commission — but  in  the 
totality  of  what  Jesus  Christ  did  and  taught  and  was. 
The  significance  of  his  earthly  life  and  teaching  appears 
only  in  the  light  of  his  personality.  It  is  the  life,  it  is 
the  teaching  of  one  who,  though  he  once  existed  in  the 
form  of  God,  yet  counted  not  the  being  on  an  equality 
with  God  a  thing  to  be  grasped,  but  emptied  himself, 
taking  the  form  of  a  servant,  being  made  in  the  likeness 
of  men ;  and  being  found  in  fashion  as  a  man,  he  humbled 
himself,  becoming  obedient  unto  death — yea,  death  of  the 
cross.  And  whoso  is  Christ's  must  have  in  him  this  same 
mind,  and  in  his  own  measure  must  accomplish  this  sac- 
rifice— he  must  renounce  self  as  the  first  condition  of 
discipleship,  and  take  up  his  cross  and  follow  Christ.  He 
must  become  the  imitator  of  him  who  came  into  this 
world  not  to  be  ministered  unto,  but  to  minister.  To  be 
a  Christian  is  to  give  one's  life  for  others.  Such  a  char- 
acter and  life  as  Christ's  necessarily  issued  in  a  mission- 
ary commandment.  The  Great  Commission  not  a  part 
of  the  primitive  tradition!  There  is  no  other  primitive 
tradition — the  whole  content  of  the  gospel  is  condensed 
into  these  words. 

And  since  the  missionary  idea  is  thus  of  the  essence 
of  Christ's  character  and  teaching,  missions  are  the  very 


THE    PHILOSOPHY    OF    CHRISTIAN    MISSIONS  7 

breath  of  life  to  the  Christian  church.  That  church  was 
called  into  being  for  no  other  purpose,  it  exists  for  no 
other  end,  than  to  proclaim  in  all  the  earth  the  gospel 
of  Christ.  The  church  does  not  engage  in  missions  as 
one  of  many  activities;  missions  are  the  primal  law  of 
its  being.  A  church  that  is  not  missionary,  whatever  else 
it  may  be,  is  not  Christian.  And  there  can  be  no  distinc- 
tion between  near  and  far,  between  men  at  home  and 
men  abroad,  in  this  matter.  ''  The  field  is  the  world." 
No  Christian  is  permitted  to  say,  or  even  to  feel,  that 
he  is  under  obligation  to  give  the  gospel  to  his  neighbor, 
but  not  to  the  man  in  China,  for  our  Master  has  taught 
that  every  man  is  my  neighbor  who  needs  me  and  whom 
I  can  help. 

The  church  may  be,  and  often  has  been,  missionary, 
but  too  narrowly  missionary,  confining  its  ministrations 
to  its  own  community,  country,  race.  Foreign  missions, 
therefore,  may  fairly  be  taken  to  be  the  best  gage  of  a 
church's  spiritual  life,  because  they  show  most  clearly 
how  far  the  followers  of  Christ  have  imbibed  the  spirit 
of  Christ.  He  gave  himself  most  to  those  who  most 
needed  him.  The  greatness  of  the  need  of  the  heathen 
is  the  measure  of  their  claim  upon  the  Christian  world. 
The  command  of  Christ  covers  their  case;  they  are  at 
least  part  of  the  "  all  the  nations,"  but  the  example  of 
Christ  outruns  his  command — love  should  be  a  more 
powerful  motive  than  duty.  The  need  of  a  nation  per- 
ishing without  the  gospel  is  enough,  and  will  be  enough 
so  long  as  Christian  compassion  remains  in  the  earth,  to 
move  the  followers  of  Christ  to  the  work  of  foreign 
missions. 

That  the  significance  of  foreign  missions  has  not  been 
exaggerated  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  the  entire 
New  Testament  is  concerned  with  foreign  missions.  The 
Epistles,   with  the  possible   exception   of   Hebrews   and 


8  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

James,  are  addressed  to  Christian  churches  planted  out- 
side of  Judea  by  the  labors  of  apostles — foreign  missions. 
The  Gospels,  with  the  possible  exception  of  Matthew, 
were  written  for  the  instruction  of  the  churches  thus 
gathered.  The  Acts  is  the  record  of  foreign  missions, 
with  an  account  of  the  beginning  of  a  Christian  church 
at  Jerusalem  as  a  necessary  introduction  or  background 
to  the  story. 

And  to  one  who  reads  these  documents,  in  which  the 
beginnings  of  Christian  history  are  recorded,  it  becomes 
evident  that  this  activity  of  the  apostles  was  not  due  to 
the  command  of  Christ  merely.  Respect  for  that  com- 
mand might  have  led  them  to  traverse  the  whole  Roman 
empire,  and  endure  hardship,  opposition,  and  persecution 
for  his  sake,  but  it  does  not  account  for  the  burning  zeal 
that  the  apostles  everywhere  displayed.  There  is  a  vast 
difference  between  obedience  and  enthusiasm.  It  is  evi- 
dent that  the  apostles  were  conscious  of  a  message  to 
be  delivered,  as  well  as  of  a  command  to  be  obeyed,  and 
that  the  message  was  their  inspiration  and  spur.  They 
knew  themselves  to  be  possessed  of  truth  that  the  heathen 
did  not  have,  truth  for  lack  of  which  the  heathen  were 
suffering,  dying,  and  to  declare  this  truth  was  their  great 
purpose.  This  truth  they  called  the  gospel,  the  glad  ti- 
dings of  salvation,  and  they  proclaimed  it  with  an  insist- 
ence that  only  the  highest  possible  conviction  of  its  value 
to  the  world  can  either  explain  or  excuse.  And  it  is  only 
as  the  church  of  to-day  has  this  same  confidence  in  the 
supreme  value  of  its  message,  this  conviction  that  the 
world  still  needs  the  gospel,  that  missionary  labors  are 
likely  to  be  fruitful.  They  are  certain  to  be  half-hearted 
and  inefficient,  else. 

There  are  those  among  us  who  think  they  see  signs 
of  the  weakening  of  this  conviction,  and  find  one  of  its 
chief  causes  in  the  new  science  of  comparative  religion. 


THE   PHILOSOPHY    OF    CHRISTIAN    MISSIONS  9 

The  tendency  of  this  comparative  study  of  the  religions 
of  the  world,  we  are  gravely  assured,  will  inevitably  be — ■ 
nay,  already  is — to  depose  Christianity  from  its  place  as 
the  religion  of  the  world,  to  rank  henceforth  as  merely 
one  of  the  world's  religions — a  little  better  than  others, 
perhaps,  but  having  no  supreme  and  exclusive  claims 
upon  man's  acceptance.  Every  new  science  has  had  to 
endure  criticism  of  this  sort,  and  comparative  religion 
being  one  of  the  latest  comers,  must  look  for  fault- 
finding and  misunderstanding  until  its  results  are  better 
known  and  more  accurately  appreciated.  And  as  with 
other  sciences,  it  has  fared  badly  at  the  hands  of  certain 
professed  friends,  sciolists  who  have  hoped  to  make  up 
for  their  lack  of  precise  knowledge  by  the  loudness  of 
their  assertions.  A  great  deal  of  nonsense  has  been  talked 
and  written  in  the  name  of  comparative  religion,  but  this 
has  no  claim  to  consideration  as  a  part  of  science. 

And  we  pay  our  religion  a  very  poor  compliment  by  con- 
fessing to  any  fears  of  the  result  of  a  candid  comparison 
of  it  with  all  the  religions  of  the  world.  A  comparison, 
in  any  case,  is  inevitable;  it  is  futile  to  object  to  it,  and 
unless  Christianity  can  justify  its  claims  to  superiority 
in  the  judgment  of  honest  men  and  by  rational  consid- 
erations, it  cannot  expect  to  maintain  its  claims  to  suprem- 
acy. But  the  science  of  comparative  religion  has  already 
confirmed,  and  will  ultimately  triumphantly  vindicate,  the 
claims  of  Christianity  to  be  the  religion  that  on  its  intel- 
lectual side  approximates  most  closely  to  ultimate  truth ; 
the  religion  possessing  a  moral  code  at  once  most  lofty 
and  most  practical;  and,  by  reason  of  its  flexibility  and 
adaptiveness  to  new  conditions,  the  only  religion  that  is 
not  of  a  race  or  an  age,  but  for  every  race  and  for  all 
time.  And  nineteen  centuries  have  irrefutably  proved  it 
to  be  the  only  religion  that  has  the  power  of  regeneration, 
for  a  man  or  for  a  nation. 


lO  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

If  there  is  a  weakening  of  missionary  conviction,  the 
explanation  is  not  to  be  found  in  the  scientific  study  of 
rehgion,  probably  not  in  any  form  of  intellectual  activity, 
but  in  moral  causes.  And  if  that  is  a  true  diagnosis,  the 
effectual  remedy  is  to  be  found  only  in  a  return  to  the 
teachings  of  Christ,  to  a  better  apprehension  of  the  gospel 
as  it  was  originally  declared.  What  was  the  content  of 
that  gospel,  the  glad  tidings  of  salvation  for  all  men,  that 
Jesus  first  declared  and  that  his  apostles  proclaimed  with 
so  great  power  and  so  marvelous  results  through  the 
length  and  breadth  of  the  great  Roman  empire  ? 

First  of  all,  the  gospel  brought  to  men  a  truer  idea  of 
God.  The  more  enlightened  minds  among  the  heathen 
had  already  attained  the  conception  of  the  unity  of  the 
divine  Being.  The  philosophical  necessity  of  conceiving 
the  Power  behind  the  phenomena  of  the  universe  as  one, 
not  many,  was  as  plain  to  .Socrates  and  Plato,  to  Cicero 
and  Seneca,  as  it  has  ever  been  to  any  Christian  thinker. 
There  is  said  to  have  been  an  esoteric  monotheism  behind 
the  popular  polytheism  of  Egypt.  The  unity  of  God  is 
an  idea  to  which  the  unaided  human  intellect  might  be 
trusted  to  arrive  in  time,  and  once  the  conception  was 
evolved,  it  would  necessarily  soon  become  a  conviction. 
Christianity  had  no  additional  message  to  bring  to  the 
world  regarding  the  oneness  of  God.  It  could  only  lay 
new  stress  upon  a  truth  already  familiar  to  many,  latent 
in  the  minds  of  a  still  larger  class.  It  could,  at  most,  only 
declare  with  absolute  conviction  that  which  was  till  then 
a  philosophical  speculation.  This,  to  be  sure,  would  be 
a  gain  not  to  be  despised,  but  this  does  not  adequately 
measure  the  contribution  of  Christianity  to  the  world's 
religious  ideas. 

To  the  idea  of  the  oneness  of  God,  Judaism  contributed 
the  notion  of  moral  personality.  It  was  by  no  means  clear 
to  Plato  and  other  heathen  philosophers  whether  the  one 


THE    PHILOSOPHY    OF    CHRISTIAN    MISSIONS  II 

divine  Power  or  Being  that  they  clearly  perceived  to  be 
manifested  in  the  universe  was  a  person,  a  God  inter- 
ested in  the  affairs  of  men  and  directing  the  course  of 
events,  or  a  mere  '*  stream  of  tendency."  If  they  may  be 
said  to  have  believed  in  one  God,  they  were  skeptical 
about  a  divine  providence.  That  is  where  Judaism  rose 
above  the  inevitable  limitations  of  a  mere  ethnic  religion. 
The  prophets  had  distinctly  revealed  to  the  Hebrews  a*, 
God  who  was  profoundly  interested  in  them  as  a  people, 
and  who  presided  over  their  national  destinies.  They  had 
also  arrived  at  another  notion  concerning  the  divine 
character,  unknown  to  man  until  the  Hebrews  developed 
it — the  holiness  of  God.  Holiness,  as  the  Jewish  prophet 
conceived  it,  was  not  a  mere  abstract  sinlessness,  but  a 
moral  perfection  that  separated  God  from  all  other  be- 
ings. This  attribute  of  God  was  actively  displayed  in 
the  reward  of  righteousness  and  the  hatred  and  punish- 
ment of  sin  in  all  its  forms.  Judaism  thus  gained  a  dif- 
ferent ethical  basis  from  that  of  other  ethnic  religions. 
To  the  Jew  righteousness  was  not  social  utility,  nor  a 
means  to  personal  happiness,  nor  patriotism ;  it  was  right 
relation  to  a  God  who  was  infinitely  perfect  in  character, 
and  therefore  required  of  his  servants  conformity  to  a 
perfect  standard  of  character  and  conduct. 

Christianity  found  nothinsf  to  criticize  or  alter  in  these 
Jewish  conceptions  of  God.  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  born  a 
Jew  and  bred  in  the  knowledge  of  these  ideas,  approved 
their  excellence  by  making  them  the  foundation  of  his 
teaching.  But  he  added  to  this  idea  of  God  one  element 
of  the  very  last  importance,  and  this  has  constituted  the 
essential  contribution  of  Christianity  to  the  fundamental 
religious  ideas  of  the  world.  He  taught  the  love  of  God, 
he  taught  men  to  say  "  Our  Father,  who  art  in  heaven." 
In  this  conception  of  God  as  a  being  whose  inmost  na- 
ture is  love,  the  self -imparting  principle,  whose  relation 


12  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

to  men  is  best  represented  in  human  language  under  the 
figure  of  parenthood,  Christianity  surpasses  not  alone  all 
heathen  or  ethnic  religions,  not  Judaism  only,  but  its  most 
powerful  modern  rival,  Islam.  The  God  of  Mohammed 
is  the  God  of  the  Jew,  plus  such  ideas  of  divine  provi- 
dence as  cannot  easily  be  distinguished  from  fatalism. 
The  Moslem  worships  a  God,  not  of  love,  but  of  in- 
exorable will,  whose  decrees  are  fate ;  and  the  essence 
of  religion  is  not  to  love  God,  but  to  believe  in  him  and 
practise  Islam,  submission  to  his  will.  But  Christianity 
proclaims  and  worships  a  God  whose  will  is  but  the  ex- 
pression of  the  holy  love  that  constitutes  his  nature — a 
will,  therefore,  exercised  for  the  blessing  of  his  creatures 
and  the  bringing  of  them  to  a  like  character  of  holy  love. 
And  to  the  person,  the  character,  and  life  of  Jesus,  Chris- 
tianity points  as  the  most  perfect  embodiment  of  this  idea 
of  God,  the  revelation  of  the  Father's  love,  the  one 
effective  means  of  reconciling  the  world  to  God. 

This  new  idea  of  God  proclaimed  to  the  world  was 
the  vitalizing  spirit  of  apostolic  missions,  and  modern 
missions  will  possess  vitality  and  effectiveness  precisely 
in  proportion  to  the  vividness  of  this  idea  in  the  con- 
sciousness of  Christ's  followers,  and  the  vigor  and  per- 
suasivene  with  which  it  is  preached.  We  may  be  as 
confident  to-day  as  ever  men  have  been  in  the  past,  that 
we  have  a  message  needed  by  the  world,  a  message  for 
which  the  nations  hunger  and  thirst,  a  message  that  the 
perishing  will  receive  with  joy  when  once  they  under- 
stand it. 

But  the  gospel  also  brought  to  men  a  new  idea  of 
human  society.  Jesus  proclaimed  it  as  his  mission  to 
establish  upon  earth  the  kingdom  of  God — a  community  of 
believers  in  which  the  royal  rule  of  God  should  prevail. 
The  greater  part  of  his  public  and  private  discourses  are 
devoted  to  the  setting  forth  of  the  nature  and  laws  of  this 


THE    PHILOSOPHY    OF    CHRISTIAN    MISSIONS  I3 

kingdom — a  fact  that  sufficiently  indicates  the  importance 
that  the  subject  assumed  in  his  mind.  The  fundamental 
law  of  that  kingdom  he  declared  to  be  righteousness,  not 
a  righteousness  of  ceremonies  and  obedience  to  a  moral 
code,  but  a  righteousness  consisting  in  a  right  relation  to 
God  and  man.  Hence  the  summons  to  men  was  /jLezapoUrs, 
not  "  repent,"  in  the  sense  of  "  be  sorry  for  your  sins,"  but 
*'  change  your  mind,"  turn  to  the  right  about,  get  into 
right  relations  with  God  and  man.  And  this  change  of 
mind,  this  right  relationship,  is  nothing  less  than  to  be 
brought  into  moral  fellowship  with  a  God  whose  nature 
is  holy  love,  and  whose  attitude  toward  his  creatures  is 
benevolence.  Hence  it  is  that  Jesus  sums  up  the  whole 
law  in  the  twin  enactment :  "  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord 
thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,"  and  "  Thou  shalt  love  thy 
neighbor  as  thyself." 

The  proclamation  of  this  truth  was  believed  to  be  the 
"  glad  tidings,"  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation,  the 
only  power  by  which  men  could  be  saved.  In  this  convic- 
tion Jesus  and  his  apostles  were  one.  But  what  did  they 
mean  by  salvation?  The  answer  made  throughout  the 
Christian  ages  has  too  often  been  this :  deliverance  of  the 
individual  from  sin,  first  from  its  condemnation  and  then 
from  its  power.  But  even  as  regards  the  individual,  sal- 
vation has  a  deeper  meaning  than  that.  For  each  of  us 
it  means  not  merely  a  deliverance,  but  to  be  brought  into 
harmony  with  the  character  and  purposes  of  God,  into 
vital  union  with  Christ  and  so  into  moral  fellowship  with 
God.  Holiness,  the  goal  of  salvation,  is  something  more 
than  mere  absence  of  sin ;  it  is  willing  righteousness  with 
all  the  moral  energy  of  one's  being.  We  are  to  be  holy 
as  God  is  holy,  and  salvation  is  not  accomplished — it  is 
only  in  process  of  accomplishment — until  this  character 
is  established  in  us.  Until  we  will  what  God  wills,  be- 
cause his  will  is  the  activity  of  a  holy  love  and  a  like  love 


14  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

fills  our  hearts,  our  salvation  is  not  completed.  And  this 
is  the  idea  of  salvation  that  the  apostles  everywhere  pro- 
claimed and  taught  in  their  letters  to  the  churches — not 
stopping  with  a  forensic  justification  that  merely  declared 
men  righteous,  but  including  also  a  sanctification  that 
makes  men  really  righteous. 

So  much  for  the  meaning  of  salvation,  as  it  applies  to 
the  individual  only.  But  this  is  not  all.  Salvation  means 
more  than  the  restoration  of  the  individual  to  moral  like- 
ness to  God.  Since  he  has  been  brought  into  harmony 
with  God,  and  since  God  so  yearns  for  the  salvation  of 
men  that  he  gave  his  only  Son  to  secure  it,  the  saved 
man  must  in  his  turn  and  in  his  degree  become  a  savior. 
The  holy  love  that  has  entered  into  the  Christian's  heart 
prompts  him  to  such  sacrifice  for  others  as  Christ  made 
on  his  behalf.  To  conceive  of  salvation  as  ending  when 
our  own  eternal  welfare  has  been  made  secure,  is  to 
repeat  the  error  of  monachism — it  is  to  convict  ourselves 
of  not  understanding  what  salvation  means.  He  whose 
love  does  not  irresistibly  urge  him  to  save  others  has 
grave  reason  to  ask  himself  whether  he  knows  what  the 
love  of  God  really  is.  By  another  route  we  have  come 
again  to  the  conclusion  that  not  to  be  a  missionary  is  not 
to  be  a  Christian. 

Man  is  not  merely  an  individual ;  he  is  a  unit  in  a  social 
organism,  the  first  group  of  which  is  the  family,  with 
its  natural  progression  Into  the  larger  groups  of  the  clan 
and  the  tribe,  or  the  town  and  the  State.  Hence,  while 
every  man  has  individual  rights  that  are  sacred  and 
inviolable,  he  has  social  duties  just  as  sacred  and  invio- 
lable. Both  of  these  are  included  in  the  scope  of  salva- 
tion, and  full  provision  is  made  for  both  in  the  law  of 
love.  But  the  emphasis  makes  all  the  difiference.  We 
are  in  no  danger  of  forgetting  or  undervaluing  our  indi- 
vidual  rights;   civil   governments   exist   mainly    for   the 


THE    PHILOSOPHY    OF    CHRISTIAN    MISSIONS  I5 

protection  and  enforcement  of  these.  What  needs 
emphasis  is  our  social  duties,  and  it  is  here  that  the 
gospel  lays  its  special  stress.  Salvation  consists  not  only 
in  the  establishment  of  individual  righteousness,  but  in 
the  perfecting  of  social  righteousness — the  triumph  of 
the  kingdom  of  God. 

In  the  light  of  this  great  truth  we  are  able  to  compre- 
hend the  real  significance  of  those  social  teachings  of 
Jesus  that  have  been  so  generally  misinterpreted — by  one 
school  being  regarded  as  Oriental  exaggeration,  mere 
counsels  of  perfection,  not  to  be  taken  too  seriously  in 
the  practical  conduct  of  life;  and  by  another  school  in- 
sisted upon  as  rules  to  be  applied  with  a  slavish  literal- 
ness  under  all  circumstances,  no  room  being  left  for  the 
exercise  of  discrimination  and  common  sense.  Such 
injunctions,  that  is  to  say,  as :  ''  Swear  not  at  all," 
"  Resist  not  him  that  is  evil,"  "  Give  to  him  that  asketh 
thee,"  "  Judge  not,"  "  Call  no  man  Rabbi."  These  and 
other  like  commands  have  to  do  with  our  relations  with 
one  another,  that  is,  they  are  concerned  with  social  right- 
eousness. But  every  one  of  them  is  to  be  interpreted  in 
the  light  of  the  fundamental  principle,  the  law  of  love. 
**  Resist  not  him  that  is  evil?"  Certainly  not,  if  I  alone 
am  injured.  But  the  law  of  love  requires  me  to  defend 
myself  against  attacks  that  will  injure  others  also — my 
life,  my  good  name,  are  of  value  to  my  family,  to  my 
friends,  possibly  of  some  little  value  to  the  world  at  large. 
And  the  law  of  love  requires  me  to  protect  my  family 
or  my  neighbor  from  the  wanton  or  malicious  violence 
of  the  evil  man.  "  Give  to  him  that  asketh  thee?  "  Cer- 
tainly ;  but  if  the  giving  will  do  harm,  not  good,  the  law 
of  love  requires  withholding  instead  of  giving.  And  so 
on.  In  fact,  these  injunctions  seem  to  have  been  Intended 
by  Jesus  not  as  rules  of  conduct,  but  simply  as  practical 
illustrations  of  the  manifold  ways  in  which  the  principle 


l6  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

of  social  righteousness,  the  law  of  love,  is  applicable  to 
human  life. 

The  early  history  of  Christianity  abounds  with  proofs 
that  this  principle  was  well  understood  and  consistently 
applied.  It  was  a  beautiful  instance  of  its  power  when 
the  disciples  at  Jerusalem,  in  the  peculiar  circumstances 
in  which  they  found  themselves  after  the  day  of  Pente- 
cost and  the  addition  to  their  number  of  three  thousand, 
*'  had  all  things  in  common,  and  sold  their  possessions 
and  goods  and  divided  them  to  all,  according  as  any  man 
had  need  .  .  .  and  not  one  of  them  said  that  aught 
of  the  things  which  he  possessed  was  his  own."  And 
generations  later,  it  was  a  common  saying  among  the 
heathen,  "  See  how  these  Christians  love  one  another." 

This  social  message  of  Christianity,  long  forgotten,  is 
coming  to  be  newly  appreciated ;  and  this  fact  should  do 
much  to  inspire  Christian  missions  with  fresh  vitality 
and  give  them  new  persuasiveness.  It  was  because  these 
truths  were  a  burning  conviction  In  the  souls  of  the  apos- 
tles, it  was  because  these  truths  were  a  vital  force  in  the 
early  Christian  churches,  that  Christianity  so  rapidly 
conquered  the  heathenism  of  the  Roman  empire.  And 
in  proportion  as  these  truths  are  vividly  conceived,  vig- 
orously proclaimed,  and  faithfully  practised,  the  Chris- 
tianity of  our  day  will  make  like  missionary  conquests. 

And  then,  the  gospel  brought  to  men  a  new  idea  of  the 
future  life.  The  best  of  the  heathen  looked  forward 
to  death  with  calmness,  indeed,  but  hardly  with  hope. 
Socrates  concludes  his  "Apology  "  with  the  words  :  "  But 
now  it  is  time  for  us  to  go  away,  I  to  die,  you  to  live. 
Which  of  us  is  going  to  the  better  fate  is  unknown  to 
all  save  God."  Brave  words,  manly  words,  but  how  far 
short  they  come  of  Paul's  confident  assurance  in  imme- 
diate expectation  of  death :  "  For  I  am  already  being 
offered,  and  the  time  of  my  departure  is  come.     I  have 


THE   PHILOSOPHY   OF   CHRISTIAN    MISSIONS  I7 

fought  the  good  fight,  I  have  finished  the  course,  I  have 
kept  the  faith :  henceforth  there  is  laid  up  for  me  the 
crown  of  righteousness,  which  the  Lord,  the  righteous 
judge,  shall  give  to  me  at  that  day."  And  even  that  finest 
passage  in  all  classical  literature,  towards  the  close  of  his 
treatise  on  *'  Old  Age,"  where  Cicero  declares  his  belief  in 
immortality,  and  says :  '*  From  this  life  I  depart  as  from 
a  temporary  lodging,  not  as  from  a  home.  For  nature, 
has  assigned  it  to  us  as  an  inn  for  a  brief  sojourn,  not 
a  place  of  habitation.  Oh,  glorious  day!  when  I  shall 
depart  to  that  divine  company  and  assemblage  of  spirits 
and  quit  this  troubled  and  polluted  scene  " — even  this  is 
but  a  philosophical  speculation,  a  personal  hope,  and  as 
he  confesses,  may  be  but  a  delusion,  though  a  pleasing 
one.  Feeble  indeed  such  a  hope  seems,  in  spite  of  the 
eloquent  words  in  which  it  is  expressed,  when  compared 
with  this :  **  For  we  know  that  if  the  earthly  house  of 
our  tabernacle  be  dissolved,  we  have  a  building  from 
God,  a  house  not  made  with  hands,  eternal,  in  the 
heavens."  Or  with  this :  "  Blessed  be  the  God  and  Father 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who,  according  to  his  great 
mercy  begat  us  again  unto  a  living  hope  by  the  resurrec- 
tion of  Jesus  Christ  from  the  dead,  unto  an  inheritance 
incorruptible,  and  undefiled  and  unfading." 

And  in  these  last  words  we  have  the  keynote  of  the 
apostolic  message — the  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ  from 
the  dead,  of  which  fact  they  were  eye-witnesses,  the 
pledge  of  salvation  and  immortality.  It  was  because  God 
had  raised  Jesus  from  the  dead  that  they  had  hope  for 
the  future  and  courage  for  the  present.  And  Paul  there- 
fore states  not  a  dogmatic  principle,  but  a  simple  historic 
fact,  when  he  says  that  it  was  our  "  Saviour  Christ  Jesus 
who  abolished  death,  and  brought  life  and  immortality  to 
light  through  the  gospel."  Even  the  agnostic,  the  atheist 
even,  must  admit  this  to  be  true.     For  if  his  contention 

B 


l8  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

that  Jesus  never  rose  from  the  dead  be  granted,  or  if  it 
be  conceded  that  behef  in  the  resurrection  had  its  origin 
in  conscious  imposture  or  honest  delusion,  it  is  still  a 
historic  fact  that  until  men  somehow  or  other  came  so 
to  believe  in  the  fact  of  Christ's  resurrection  as  to  be 
willing  to  give  their  lives  in  attestation  of  the  sincerity  of 
their  testimony,  the  assured  hope  of  immortality  never 
existed  anywhere  on  this  earth.  Nor  does  it  now  exist 
apart  from  belief  in  Christ's  resurrection.  Those  who 
have  lost  that  belief  no  longer  hope  for  any  immortality, 
save  the  pale  shadow  of  an  eternal  life  found  in  joining 

the  choir  invisible 
Of  those  immortal  dead  who  live  again 
In  minds  made  better  by  their  presence. 

The  hope  of  the  world  is  still  bound  up  with  the  fact  of 
the  resurrection  of  Jesus,  and  it  is  as  true  now  as  when 
the  words  were  first  written,  "If  Christ  hath  not  been 
raised,  your  faith  is  vain." 

If  we  can  proclaim  the  gospel  as  it  was  proclaimed  by 
the  immediate  followers  of  our  Lord ;  if  God  means  as 
much  to  us  as  he  meant  to  them ;  if  we  have  their  concep- 
tion of  salvation  and  what  it  will  accomplish,  both  for  the 
individual  and  for  society;  if  our  assurance  of  a  glorious 
future  with  Christ  is  as  unwavering  as  theirs — then  we 
may  look  with  confidence  for  like  results.  The  gospel 
is  still  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation,  only  it  must  be 
a  full,  unmutilated  gospel,  and  it  must  be  proclaimed 
with  intense  conviction  that  in  it  is  the  world's  only  hope. 
Here  is  at  once  the  divine  philosophy  of  missions  and  the 
prophecy  of  their  ultimate  success.  The  same  who  said, 
'*  Go,  proclaim,"  has  said,  "  Lo,  I  am  with  you  alway, 
unto  the  end  of  the  age." 


II 


PAUL : 
MISSIONS   OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  AGE 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

By  all  means  the  most  learned  and  exhaustive  discussion  of 
this  theme  is  Harnack's  Die  Mission  und  Ausbreitwig  des  Chris- 
tenthums  in  der  Ersten  drei  Jahrhunderten  (Leipzig,  1902), 
since  republished  in  an  English  translation,  under  the  title  The 
Expansion  of  Christianity  (two  vols.,  London,  1904-5).  Little 
inferior  to  this  as  to  the  apostolic  age  proper,  is  Weizsacker's 
The  Apostolic  Age  (Eng.  tr.,  two  vols.,  London,  1894).  There  is 
much  valuable  material  also  in  Hausrath's  Times  of  the  Apostles, 
esp.  Vol.  Ill,  p.  129  seq.  (four  vols.,  London,  1895).  Hort's 
Judaic  Christianity,  chap.  IV,  V,  is  a  helpful  contribution,  and 
most  treatises  on  the  apostolic  age  are  worthy  of  examination 
by  a  student  of  apostolic  missions.  The  well-known  biographies 
of  the  Apostle  Paul,  by  Conybeare  and  Howson,  Farrar,  and 
Sabatier  are  of  great  value.  Martin's  Apostolic  and  Modern  Mis- 
sions (New  York,  1898)  contains  a  striking  and  instructive 
parallel. 


II 

PAUL:   MISSIONS  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  AGE 

ABOUT  fourteen  years  after  the  outpouring  of  the 
Spirit  on  the  day  of  Pentecost  occurred  the  crisis 
in  the  history  of  Christianity.  A  year  or  two  before 
this  Peter,  in  obedience  to  a  heavenly  vision,  had  gone  to 
the  house  of  CorneHus,  a  centurion  of  the  ItaHan  cohort, 
then  stationed  at  Caesarea — a  thing  unlawful  according 
to  the  traditions  of  his  race.  Though  a  devout  man, 
Cornelius  was  still  a  Gentile  and  a  heathen,  with  whom 
no  scrupulous  Jew  would  hold  even  ordinary  social  inter- 
course. Peter  preached  the  gospel  to  Cornelius  and  his 
friends ;  they  believed ;  and  while  the  apostle  was  yet 
speaking,  the  power  of  the  Spirit  came  upon  these  new 
believers,  so  that  they  spoke  with  tongues  and  glorified 
God.  What  was  Peter  that  he  should  withstand  the 
grace  of  God  ?  Without  hesitation  he  baptized  Cornelius 
and  his  believing  friends. 

On  his  return  to  Jerusalem,  Peter  was  called  to  account 
for  his  conduct,  and  in  his  own  defense  he  simply  re- 
lated the  facts.  They  proved  unanswerable.  The  church 
at  Jerusalem  glorified  God,  saying,  '*  Then  hath  God  also 
to  the  Gentiles  granted  repentance  unto  life."  But  in 
spite  of  these  brave  words,  it  soon  appeared  that  the 
saints  at  Jerusalem  were  slow  of  heart  to  learn  the  lesson 
of  God's  providence,  and  to  admit  that  any  other  than 
Jews  could  be  saved  through  the  gospel.  The  followers 
of  Christ  up  to  this  time,  it  is  plain,  had  still  regarded 
themselves  as  Jews.  They  frequented  the  temple  and 
the  synagogues,  though  from  the  beginning  they  had  also 

21 


22  CHRISTIAN   EPOCH-MAKERS 

their  own  assemblies  on  the  first  day  of  the  week.  They 
regarded  themselves,  and  for  some  time  were  also  re- 
garded by  others  as  rather  a  party  in  the  Jewish  nation 
than  a  separate  sect  or  the  adherents  of  a  new  religion. 
They  were  still  busily  engaged  in  putting  the  new  wine 
into  the  old  bottles,  trying  to  patch  the  old,  worn-out 
garment  of  Judaism  with  the  new  cloth  of  Christianity. 
The  gospel  was  a  gospel  to  Jews ;  salvation  was  for  Jews. 
Now  for  the  first  time  there  began  to  dawn  a  recognition 
that  the  gospel  was  to  be  preached  to  Gentile  as  well  as 
to  Jew,  that  Christ  had  made  atonement  for  the  sins  of 
the  world,  and  that  the  religion  of  the  Christ  is  therefore 
essentially  a  missionary  religion. 

Not  only  was  recognition  of  this  truth  a  gradual  proc- 
ess, it  was  slower  at  Jerusalem  than  elsewhere.  And  it 
is  always  one  thing  to  see  a  truth  and  quite  another  to 
act  upon  it.  The  church  at  Jerusalem  would  never  again, 
perhaps,  have  forbidden  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  to 
Gentiles.  The  case  of  Cornelius  had  at  any  rate  accom- 
plished so  much  as  this :  the  rightfulness  of  such  preach- 
ing could  no  longer  be  called  in  question,  since  God  him- 
self had  set  the  seal  of  approval  upon  it.  But  the  saints 
at  Jerusalem  were  not  prepared  to  undertake  an  active 
and  vigorous  campaign  among  the  Gentiles.  That  honor 
was  left  to  another  church — that  of  Antioch. 

The  city  of  Antioch  was  the  capital  of  the  Roman 
province  of  Syria,  and  was  a  town  of  such  wealth  and 
magnificence  as  to  be  frequently  called  the  Rome  of  the 
Orient.  At  what  time  the  gospel  was  first  preached 
here  we  are  not  told;  but  about  the  year  A.  d.  43  or  44, 
certain  disciples,  driven  from  Jerusalem  by  the  persecu- 
tion following  the  stoning  of  Stephen,  found  their  way 
to  this  place  and  preached  the  gospel  not  only  to  Jews, 
but  to  Gentiles,  a  great  number  of  whom  believed.  Re- 
port of  this  having  reached  the  church  at  Jerusalem,  they 


PAUL  23 

sent  Barnabas  to  see  what  was  done,  and  to  supervise 
the  work.  Barnabas,  "  son  of  consolation,"  was  not  only 
eloquent  of  speech,  as  is  implied  in  his  surname,  but  "  he 
was  a  good  man,  and  full  of  the  Holy  Ghost  and  of 
faith."  He  had  been  one  of  the  first  to  sell  his  estate, 
in  order  to  relieve  the  sufferings  of  the  saints  at  Jerusa- 
lem, and  he  put  his  hand  to  this  new  work  with  the  same 
promptness  and  self-sacrifice,  so  that  "  a  great  multitude 
was  added  to  the  Lord." 

After  a  time,  however,  Barnabas  felt  the  need  of  a 
helper,  and  his  heart  turned  to  one  who  seemed  to  him 
peculiarly  fitted  to  be  of  service  among  the  Gentile  popu- 
lation of  Antioch.  About  five  years  ago  he  had  been 
the  means  of  introducing  to  the  apostles  as  a  brother  in 
Christ  one  whom  they  mistrusted,  and  not  without  rea- 
son. This  was  Saul,  a  native  of  Tarsus,  of  the  tribe 
of  Benjamin,  a  Pharisee  of  the  straitest  sect,  brought 
up  at  the  feet  of  Gamaliel  and  learned  in  the  law,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  .Sanhedrin  who  had  been  renowned  as  a  bitter 
persecutor  of  the  disciples  of  Jesus.  This  man  had  come 
to  Jerusalem  after  an  absence  of  some  years,  with  a 
wonderful  story  of  having  been  stricken  down  by  the 
hand  of  the  Lord  at  midday,  of  a  blindness  miraculously 
healed,  and  of  a  conversion  to  the  faith  of  the  Christ 
hardly  less  a  miracle.  No  wonder  the  saints  at  Jerusalem 
were  incredulous  and  deemed  this  some  snare  of  their 
enemies,  until  Barnabas  with  superior  insight  recognized 
the  genuineness  of  Saul's  conversion  and  persuaded  the 
rest  to  receive  him  into  the  brotherhood. 

Saul  had  from  the  first  shown  qualities  that  especially 
fitted  him  for  a  work  like  this.  He  was  now  preaching  in 
his  native  city  of  Tarsus,  and  there  Barnabas  sought  and 
found  him,  and  besought  his  aid.  "  And  it  came  to  pass 
that  even  for  a  whole  year  they  came  together  in  the 
church,  and  taught  a  great  multitude." 


24  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

This  was  a  memorable  year  in  the  history  of  Chris- 
tianity. Humanly  speaking,  it  decided  the  future  of 
the  religion  of  Christ,  insured  its  perpetuity,  and  im- 
pressed upon  it  a  character  that  it  was  never  to  lose. 
Great  as  was  the  influence  of  the  church  at  Jerusalem 
in  molding  Christianity,  the  influence  of  the  church  at 
Antioch  became  even  greater.  This  year  settled  the  ques- 
tion whether  the  followers  of  Christ  should  remain  an 
obscure  Jewish  sect  or  party,  like  the  Essenes,  or  Chris- 
tianity should  become  a  new  religion,  altogether  differ- 
ent from  Judaism.  At  this  place,  and  apparently  at  this 
time,  in  perhaps  unconscious  recognition  of  this  new  de- 
parture, the  disciples  were  first  called  Christians — a  name 
possibly  given  by  their  heathen  opponents  as  a  term  of 
reproach,  but  speedily  adopted  by  them  as  a  badge  of 
honor,  the  **  worthy  name  "  by  which  they  were  glad  to 
be  called,  though  it  were  blasphemed  by  the  rich  and 
powerful.  This  year,  therefore,  marks  the  freeing  of 
Christianity  from  its  shackles  of  provincialism  and  sec- 
tarianism, and  its  awakening  to  self -consciousness  as  the 
great  world  religion.  This  year  brought  Paul  from  his 
obscurity,  and  placed  him  in  the  very  forefront  of  the 
apostles  of  Christ — an  event  certainly  second  to  none  in 
the  history  of  the  churches  during  the  New  Testament 
period.  It  is  no  exaggeration  then,  but  sober  statement 
of  historic  fact,  to  call  this  year  the  crisis  in  the  history 
of  Christianity. 

One  thing  remains  that,  beyond  all  yet  mentioned, 
marks  this  as  a  crisis,  namely,  this  year  at  Antioch 
was  the  providential  preparation  for  a  great  forward 
missionary  movement,  which  had  resulted  before  the  close 
of  the  century  in  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  through- 
out the  Roman  world.  The  hour  had  struck  for  such 
an  advance.  The  church  at  Antioch  had  become  strong 
in  numbers  and  in  faith;  it  doubtless  had  considerable 


PAUL  25 

financial  resources.  The  preaching  of  the  gospel  by  the 
apostles  brought  home  to  the  consciences  of  preachers 
and  hearers  alike  the  duty  of  obedience  to  the  command 
of  their  Lord.  Not  merely  Jerusalem  and  Judea,  not 
merely  Antioch  and  Syria,  but  all  the  nations  were  to  be 
evangelized,  and  to  be  taught  obedience  to  Christ.  Upon 
the  church  and  the  apostles  simultaneously  comes  the  im- 
perious conviction  that  there  was  a  work  to  be  under- 
taken in  the  regions  beyond.  In  this  way  the  Spirit  said 
to  the  church,  "  Set  apart  for  me  Barnabas  and  Saul  to 
the  work  to  which  I  have  called  them.  Then,  having 
fasted  and  prayed  and  laid  their  hands  on  them,  they 
sent  them  away." 

It  is  worthy  of  note  in  passing  that  this  first  recorded 
ordination  in  the  churches  of  Christ  was  the  ordination 
of  evangelists,  missionaries — not  of  pastors.  It  is  also 
noteworthy  that  Paul  received  this  ordination  as  well  as 
Barnabas.  Some  have  seen  in  this  account  a  fatal  con- 
tradiction of  the  apostle's  own  account  of  his  credentials. 
In  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians  he  indignantly  disclaims 
owing  his  apostleship  to  man,  asserting  that  not  human 
approval,  but  a  divine  call  had  set  him  apart  to  this 
work,  and  that  his  authority  as  a  preacher  was  from 
Christ  direct.  But  there  is  no  contradiction.  It  was  true 
of  Paul,  as  it  has  been  of  every  genuine  preacher  of 
the  gospel  from  his  day  to  ours,  that  his  call  was  from 
Christ  direct,  and  that  he  owed  no  part  of  his  authority 
as  a  Christian  teacher  to  men.  But  it  was  also  true  that 
the  church  at  Antioch  formally  set  the  seal  of  their  ap- 
proval to  his  call,  recognized  in  this  public  way  his  apos- 
tleship, and  sent  him  forth  as  their  accredited  representa- 
tive. And  nothing  indicates  that  Paul  disdained  or  un- 
dervalued this  formal  sanction  of  his  character  and  work ; 
he  was  too  much  of  a  gentleman,  as  well  as  too  true  a 
Christian,  to  submit  with  an  ill  grace  to  a  ceremony  so 


26  CHRISTIAN   EPOCH-MAKERS 

obviously  fitting,  as  he  was  about  to  set  forth  in  the  char- 
acter of  an  official  representative  of  the  church  at  Anti- 
och  to  preach  the  gospel.  Neither  did  he  overvalue  this 
formal  sanction  and  confuse  the  human  commission  with 
the  divine  call. 

No  such  ambitious  project  was  at  first  entertained  as 
the  evangelizing  of  the  empire ;  the  horizon  of  the  apostles 
grew  with  their  work.  The  much  more  modest  attempt 
was  made  in  this  first  missionary  tour  to  preach  the  gospel 
in  the  adjacent  parts  of  Asia  Minor,  including  the  near- 
lying  island  of  Cyprus.  In  this  circuit  of  the  towns  of 
the  Roman  province  of  Galatia,  probably  not  less  than 
two  years  were  consumed,  and  three  cities  are  especially 
named  as  the  scene  of  labor :  Antioch  in  Pisidia,  Iconium., 
and  Lystra.  In  all  of  these  the  apostles  experienced 
great  opposition,  passing  into  violent  persecution,  and  in 
the  last  Paul  was  stoned  and  left  for  dead  by  the  Jew- 
ish mob,  but  afterward  revived.  A  vivid  recollection  of 
these  hardships  remained  with  him  during  the  rest  of 
his  life.  He  makes  mention  of  them  more  than  once  in 
his  letters  to  the  churches,  and  in  the  last  words  that  he 
wrote  before  his  death  he  calls  to  mind  "  what  things 
came  upon  me  at  Antioch,  at  Iconium,  at  Lystra;  what 
persecutions  I  endured,  and  out  of  all  the  Lord  delivered 
me."  But  there  was  a  more  joyful  recollection  connected 
with  this  tour.  It  was  at  Derbe  or  Lystra,  probably  the 
latter,  that  the  apostle  became  acquainted  with  a  young 
Jew  named  Timothy,  who  had  been  carefully  trained  by 
his  mother  and  grandmother  in  the  knowledge  of  the 
Scriptures,  and  who  now  received  the  gospel  joyfully. 
In  later  years  he  developed  into  one  of  the  most  trusted 
coadjutors  of  the  apostle,  and  in  a  sense  his  successor. 

Having  retraced  their  steps  and  seen  to  it  that  the 
newly  planted  churches  were  supplied  with  elders  to 
have  oversight  of  the  flocks,  the  apostles  returned  to  Anti- 


PAUL  27 

och,  "  whence  they  had  been  committed  to  the  grace  of 
God  for  the  work  which  they  had  accompUshed.  And 
when  they  had  arrived  and  assembled  the  church  they 
reported  how  great  things  God  had  wrought  with  them, 
and  that  he  had  opened  to  the  Gentiles  a  door  of  faith. 
And  they  spent  no  little  time  with  the  disciples."  A 
period  of  perhaps  two  years  more  may  be  allowed  for 
this  stay  at  Antioch. 

By  this  missionary  enterprise  the  center  of  gravity  had 
been  once  for  all  transferred  from  Jerusalem  to  Anti- 
och. While  the  church  at  Jerusalem  still  retained  a  kind 
of  primacy,  the  real  leader  of  the  Christian  hosts  was 
henceforth  the  church  at  Antioch.  Moreover,  during 
this  time  Paul  had  been  compelled  by  the  inveterate  hos- 
tility of  the  Jews  to  turn  to  the  Gentiles,  and  from 
this  time  onward  he  was  known  as  the  apostle  of  the 
uncircumcision,  as  Peter  was  par  excellence  the  apostle  of 
the  circumcision.  The  race  prejudices  of  those  Christians 
who  had  been  bred  in  the  Jewish  faith  were  enkindled. 
They  were  now  willing,  since  the  church  at  Jerusalem 
had  sanctioned  so  much,  that  the  gospel  should  be 
preached  to  the  Gentiles,  but  they  insisted  that  when  the 
Gentiles  became  Christians  they  became  debtors  to  the 
whole  law  of  Moses,  and  must  live  as  Jews.  None  saw 
more  clearly  than  Paul  that  this  was  to  substitute  salva- 
tion by  works  for  salvation  by  faith,  as  he  preached; 
and  that  such  substitution  would  be  a  gross  perversion 
of  the  Christian  religion.  It  was  plain  to  him  that  the 
Jewish  system,  with  its  types  and  symbols  fulfilled  in 
Christ,  was  moribund,  and  that  to  bind  Gentile  converts 
with  the  obligations  of  the  Mosaic  law  would  be  to  nullify 
the  preaching  of  the  gospel  among  them.  Accordingly, 
when  a  party  of  Judaizers  came  to  the  church  at  Antioch 
and  began  the  active  teaching  of  their  views,  Paul  and 
Barnabas  withstood  them.     The  council   of   Jerusalem 


28  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

which  Speedily  followed  was  the  Gettysburg  of  the  Juda- 
izing  party.  James  and  Peter  and  John  gave  the  hands 
of  fellowship  to  Paul  and  Barnabas,  as  the  apostles  to  the 
Gentiles,  and  the  way  was  now  open  for  the  larger 
advance  in  missionary  effort. 

Again  Paul  set  forth  on  a  missionary  tour,  but  this 
time  Silas,  not  Barnabas,  was  his  companion.  People  in 
our  day  have  sometimes  audibly  wondered  how  dissen- 
sions and  quarrels  can  possibly  arise  among  missionaries. 
Men  and  women  who  have  devoted  their  lives  to  the 
preaching  of  the  gospel  among  the  heathen,  it  is  to  be 
presumed,  have  reached  a  state  of  holiness  and  consecra- 
tion above  all  such  littlenesses.  President  Lincoln  once  re- 
marked that  there  is  a  great  deal  of  human  nature  lying 
around  loose  in  the  world,  and  missionaries,  even  apostles, 
have  their  fair  share  of  it,  with  all  its  infirmities.  The 
old  Adam  breaks  out  in  the  most  unexpected  places. 
When  we  sigh  for  the  good  old  times,  when  we  idealize 
the  apostolic  period  as  the  golden  age  of  Christianity,  let 
us  not  forget  that  one  of  the  Twelve  was  a  thief  and  a 
traitor,  and  that  another  denied  his  Lord,  that  in  the 
first  Christian  church  were  Ananias  and  Sapphira,  that 
John  Mark  forsook  his  companions  in  their  hour  of  need 
and  Paul  and  Barnabas  quarreled  over  him,  that  in  the 
wake  of  Paul  followed  false  teachers  who  taught  lies 
faster  than  he  could  teach  the  truth.  Call  such  a  time 
an  age  of  brass,  if  you  please,  but  never  an  age  of  gold. 
We  shall  no  longer  wonder  at  the  imperfections  of  mod- 
ern Christians  if  we  read  the  New  Testament  with  open 
eyes. 

When  Paul  began  this  second  journey  there  is  no  evi- 
dence that  he  had  in  mind  any  larger  plan  than  before — 
Asia  Minor  still  apparently  measured  his  missionary  pur- 
poses and  hopes.  But  the  Spirit  would  not  suffer  him  to 
carry  out  his  narrow  plans,  and  while  he  was  at  Troas 


PAUL  49 

it  was  made  known  to  him  in  a  vision  that  he  must  extend 
his  labors  to  Europe  and  preach  the  gospel  there.  From 
this  time  we  are  to  trace  the  widening  of  horizon  that 
appears  in  all  his  subsequent  labors ;  he  now  began  to 
propose  nothing  less  than  preaching  the  gospel  in  all  parts 
of  the  Roman  empire,  so  far  as  one  man  could  do  this 
work.  To  this  he  devoted  the  remaining  years  of  his 
life.  In  Philippi,  Thessalonica,  and  Berea,  in  Athens, 
Corinth,  and  Ephesus,  in  Galatia  and  Phrygia,  he  labored 
incessantly  for  the  next  seven  years,  planting  churches, 
strengthening  those  already  planted,  and  making  himself 
present  everywhere  at  once  by  his  epistles. 

The  details  of  these  labors  are  better  known  to  us  than 
any  other  part  of  the  apostolic  history.  We  may  reject 
with  little  ceremony  the  few  conjectures  that  afterward 
become  embodied  in  church  tradition,  such  as  that  Mark 
founded  the  church  at  Alexandria,  that  Andrew  evan- 
gelized Scythia,  Bartholomew  preached  in  India,  and 
Thomas  in  Parthia.  This  parceling  out  of  the  Roman 
empire  between  the  apostles  reminds  one  of  the  later 
story,  that  each  of  the  Twelve  contributed  a  clause  to  the 
Apostles'  Creed,  and  the  two  accounts  probably  had  a 
similar  origin.  It  is  true  that  some  of  these  traditions 
are  not  improbable  in  themselves,  and  may  possibly  be 
fact,  while  on  the  other  hand  some  bear  evident  marks 
of  invention;  but  none  of  them,  nor  all  together,  can  be 
regarded  as  any  important  addition  to  our  knowledge  of 
the  apostolic  period.  We  may  be  certain  that  the  other 
apostles  were  not  idle;  the  New  Testament  is  not  silent 
concerning  their  labors  because  there  was  nothing  to  tell. 
There  were  reasons  for  the  special  prominence  given  in 
the  second  half  of  the  Acts  to  the  labors  of  Paul,  some 
of  which  we  may  easily  infer.  In  any  case,  however, 
the  widespread  influence  of  Christianity  in  the  Roman 
empire  at  the  close  of  the  first  century  demands  far  more 


30  CHRISTIAN   EPOCH-MAKERS 

for  its  explanation  than  the  labors  of  one  apostle,  even 
though  that  one  be  Paul.  Nothing  can  adequately  ac- 
count for  the  state  of  things  that  we  find  existing  in  the 
earliest  post-apostolic  literature,  from  about  a.  d.  120 
onward,  save  the  general  prevalence  of  a  burning  mis- 
sionary zeal  among  the  apostles  and  throughout  the 
apostolic  churches. 

We  are  therefore  fairly  entitled  to  assume  that  what 
we  find  to  be  true  of  Paul  and  of  the  churches  with 
which  he  was  associated  was  characteristic  of  the  apos- 
tolic period.  And  though  his  labors  constitute  our  chief, 
almost  our  sole,  material  for  the  study  of  apostolic  mis- 
sionary methods,  they  may,  without  doing  violence  to 
sound  principles  of  New  Testament  interpretation,  be 
taken  as  the  norm  of  missionary  methods  in  that  age,  and 
so  far  as  their  fundamental  principles  are  concerned,  the 
norm  of  missionary  methods  in  every  age.  They  deserve 
our  most  careful  and  intelligent  study. 

The  first  and  most  significant  thing  is  that  Paul  and 
Barnabas  did  not  go  forth  in  the  first  instance  on  their 
own  responsibility,  and  in  all  probability  they  did  not  go 
at  their  ow^n  charges.  They  were  sent  forth  by  the  Holy 
Spirit,  indeed,  but  also  by  the  church  of  Antioch.  They 
returned  to  Antioch  at  the  close  of  their  missionary  tour 
and  made  a  report  of  their  labors,  thus  acknowledging 
their  responsibility  to  the  body  that  had  commissioned 
them.  Paul  returned  similarly  at  the  close  of  his  second 
tour,  and  he  would  doubtless  have  returned  to  Antioch 
at  the  close  of  his  third  tour  had  he  not  been  interrupted 
by  his  mischance  at  Jerusalem,  with  his  consequent  arrest 
and  long  imprisonment.  The  Antioch  church  sustained 
to  these  apostles  essentially  the  relation  of  a  missionary 
society  to  its  missionaries.  And  to  one  who  studies  the 
incidents  of  the  first  tour  especially,  it  becomes  evident 
that  the  church  that  sent  them  forth  also  sustained  them. 


PAUL  31 

There  is  no  hint  that  at  this  time  either  of  the  two 
apostles  supported  himself  by  his  own  labors,  and  the 
account  of  what  they  accomplished  seems  to  preclude  any 
such  employment.  Travel  was  costly  in  those  days  as 
now ;  proportionally  it  probably  cost  more  then  than  now. 
Neither  of  the  apostles  had  at  this  time  any  independent 
means  so  far  as  we  know.  It  is  the  fairest  of  inferences 
that  the  church  in  sending  them  out  became  responsible 
for  the  expenses  of  their  journey. 

It  is  true  that  during  the  other  tours  Paul  supported 
himself,  at  least  in  part,  by  working  with  his  own  hands. 
That  he  did  this  in  Corinth  and  Ephesus  we  have  his  own 
testimony,  but  we  have  also  from  him  the  reason  for  his 
course :  it  was  that  he  might  convince  the  heathen  of  these 
cities  of  his  personal  disinterestedness  in  preaching  the 
gospel — he  deemed  this  the  best  way,  if  not  the  only  way, 
to  convince  them  that  he  sought  not  theirs  but  them.  He 
did  not  commend  his  conduct  as  an  example  to  others. 
He  distinctly  lays  down  the  principle  that  they  who  preach 
the  gospel  should  live  of  the  gospel,  and  he  indicates  no 
exception  in  the  case  of  missionaries.  It  would  be  curi- 
ous, indeed,  if  the  New  Testament  should  be  found  to 
ordain  that  men  who  enjoy  the  comparative  comfort  and 
security  of  a  pastorate  and  a  settled  home  are  entitled  to 
support,  while  those  who  undertake  the  rough  and  often 
dangerous  work  of  evangelizing  the  new  regions  should 
go  at  their  own  risk  and  charges. 

There  is  evidence  not  only  that  the  church  at  Antioch, 
but  some  of  the  churches  that  he  founded,  sustained  Paul 
in  his  labors  by  ministering  to  his  needs  from  their  abun- 
dance. We  know  something  of  the  methods  of  the  Roman 
law  in  dealing  with  accused  persons.  Paul  at  Caesarea, 
and  afterward  at  Rome,  was  what  we  should  call  a  pris- 
oner on  bail ;  only,  the  Roman  method  of  bail  was  not  to 
take  security  in  a  sum  of  money,  but  to  fetter  the  accused 


3^  CHRISTIAN   EPOCH-MAKERS 

to  a  soldier.  It  is  needless  to  add  that  a  Roman  prisoner 
never  "  skipped  his  bail."  Pending  his  trial,  such  a  pris- 
oner was  allowed  a  good  deal  of  liberty.  His  friends 
could  visit  him  freely  and  supply  him  with  food  and  cloth- 
ing ;  sometimes,  as  in  the  case  of  Paul  at  Rome,  he  could 
dwell  by  himself,  free  in  every  respect  but  for  that  chain 
and  soldier.  It  was  doubtless  because  he  saw  Paul  thus 
ministered  to  by  his  friends  and  receiving  gifts  from 
them,  that  Felix  was  led  to  hope  for  a  bribe  for  the 
release  of  his  prisoner.  During  the  two  years  that  Paul 
dwelt  at  Rome  in  his  own  hired  house,  the  churches  evi- 
dently bore  his  expenses,  for  we  find  him  thanking  the 
Philippian  Christians  on  one  occasion  for  their  liberality 
toward  him,  and  calling  to  mind  their  gifts  before  his 
imprisonment.  And  these  were  by  no  means  the  least 
useful  years  of  his  missionary  life,  for  by  his  agency  the 
gospel  won  acceptance  even  in  Caesar's  household,  and  the 
church  of  Rome  was  greatly  increased  and  strengthened 
for  the  fiery  trials  that  were  soon  to  come  upon  it. 

We  have,  therefore,  in  the  apostolic  age  already  in 
operation  the  essential  features  of  our  modern  missionary 
societies.  True,  the  formal  organization  is  not  there,  but 
none  of  our  modern  organizations  are  formally  present 
in  the  New  Testament  churches.  Some  bodies  of  Chris- 
tians who  object  to  missionary  societies  as  unwarranted 
innovations  do  not  object  to  other  associations  of  Chris- 
tians for  religious  work  which  are  equally  without  formal 
precedent  in  the  New  Testament.  This  is  the  old  familiar 
scrupulosity  that  strains  out  the  gnat  and  swallows  the 
camel — that  would  cast  out  a  mote  from  a  brother's  eye, 
unmindful  of  the  beam  in  its  own.  And  there  are  certain 
other  well-meaning  persons  who  urge  as  more  apostolic 
the  go-as-you-please  missionary  method — that  men  and 
women  should  go  forth  without  a  guaranteed  salary ;  that 
no  society  should  undertake  the  supervision  and  care  of 


PAUL  33 

them,  nor  even  any  church,  but  the  Lord  should  be  trusted 
for  all  things.  To  such  may  be  commended  not  only  a 
closer  study  of  the  New  Testament,  but  the  practical 
wisdom  of  the  Confederate  officer's  valet  who,  when  the 
bullets  began  to  fly  betook  himself  to  the  rear  with  more 
speed  than  dignity,  and  when  afterward  reproved  by  his 
master  with,  "  I  thought  you  trusted  in  the  Lord,  Sam," 
replied,  "  Oh,  yes.  Mars'  Gawge,  I  trus'  in  de  Lawd,  but 
I  doan'  fool  wid  'im." 

And  it  is  difficult  to  speak  with  due  patience  of  the 
proposal  of  certain  others,  that  we  abandon  our  mis- 
sionary societies  and  return  to  the  exact  apostolic  method, 
each  church  following  the  example  of  the  church  at 
Antioch,  commissioning  its  own  missionaries  and  being 
responsible  for  them.  This  proposition  rests  upon  an 
altogether  wrong  notion  of  the  use  to  be  made  of  apos- 
tolic precedent.  These  things  are  written  for  our  instruc- 
tion, not  for  our  slavish  imitation.  Often  we  can  best 
show  our  respect  for  the  fathers,  not  by  an  ape-like  doing 
of  precisely  what  they  did,  but  by  intelligently  doing  what 
they  would  do  if  they  were  here.  The  apostles  did  their 
best  under  the  conditions  of  the  first  century,  and  we 
honor  them  most  truly  when  we  do  our  best  under  the 
conditions  of  the  twentieth  century.  To  return  to  the 
first  century  methods  in  all  things  would  be  not  to  honor 
the  apostles  or  the  New  Testament  or  our  Master,  but  to 
dishonor  all  three,  and  to  discredit  our  own  common 
sense  as  well.  Why  not  propose  also  that  our  mission- 
aries go  afoot  across  continents  and  traverse  the  ocean  in 
sailing  vessels,  because  the  Empire  State  express  and 
the  "  ocean  greyhound  "  were  unknown  to  Paul  ?  Who 
doubts  that,  were  he  living  now,  he  would  find  fastest 
train  and  swiftest  steamer  none  too  rapid  to  convey  the 
gospel  to  all  lands?  And  is  it  not  equally  beyond  doubt 
that  if  Paul  were  a  preacher  of  Christ's  gospel  to-day,  he 
c 


34  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

would  Utilize  to  the  full  the  facilities  that  the  great  mis- 
sionary societies  of  our  age  furnish  for  sending  that 
gospel  to  the  uttermost  parts?  Paul  was  willing  to  be 
counted  a  fool  for  Christ's  sake  and  the  gospel's,  but 
he  nowhere  teaches  that  it  is  necessary  to  be  a  fool  in 
order  to  be  a  missionary  of  true  apostolic  spirit  and 
method.  New  Testament  precedents  are  addressed  to 
men  and  women  who  have  brains  as  well  as  hearts,  and 
both  endowments  find  their  sphere  of  activit}^  in  Chris- 
tian missions. 

Another  thing  characteristic  of  apostolic  missionary 
methods  is  that  the  gospel  was  first  preached  in  the 
cities,  the  centers  of  population  and  activity,  the  great 
ganglia  of  the  Roman  empire,  the  strategic  points  from 
which  heathenism  might  be  most  effectively  attacked. 
Doubtless  a  reason  for  this  was  that  in  these  cities  was 
always  found  a  Jewish  colony,  to  which  in  the  first  in- 
stance the  apostles  seem  to  have  appealed.  But  the  phi- 
losophy of  the  procedure  lies  deeper  than  this.  If  you 
wish  to  influence  men,  you  must  go  where  men  are,  not  to 
sparsely  inhabited  districts,  but  to  the  cities.  If  you  wish 
to  move  men,  you  must  go  to  the  centers  of  activity  and 
relate  yourself  and  your  project  to  the  power  that  pro- 
ceeds from  the  centers.  In  all  the  ages  it  is  the  cities 
that  have  determined  the  destiny  of  nations,  and  a  half- 
dozen  cities  are  making  the  history  of  the  world  to-day. 
If  we  are  wise  in  our  generation,  as  the  apostles  were  in 
theirs,  we  shall  more  and  more  concentrate  our  mis- 
sionary efforts  on  the  great  cities. 

There  is  even  more  reason  why  we  should  do  this  than 
there  was  for  Paul  to  preach  in  Antioch,  in  Corinth,  in 
Ephesus,  for  one  of  the  most  striking  features  of  the  past 
century  has  been  the  increasing  tendency  of  men  to 
gather  in  cities.  Som.e  social  philosophers  are  alarmed 
by  the  fact  that  the  urban  population  of  our  own  country 


PAUL  35 

has  increased  within  fifty  years  from  twelve  to  twenty- 
nine  per  cent,  of  the  whole  population,  while  the  number 
of  towns  of  eight  thousand  inhabitants  and  over  has 
grown  during  the  same  time  from  fewer  than  one  hun- 
dred to  more  than  three  hundred.  It  is  true  that  this  ten- 
dency has  been  somewhat  modified  during  the  past  decade 
by  the  introduction  of  the  trolley  car  and  the  telephone. 
The  tendency  now  is  for  the  rich  and  well-to-do  to  estab- 
lish their  real  homes  in  the  suburbs  of  the  great  cities 
rather  than  in  the  cities  themselves,  but  the  ultimate 
effect  of  this  will  only  be  to  enlarge  the  area  and  popula- 
tion of  the  cities  by  the  gradual  absorption  of  these 
suburbs. 

And  this  increase  of  urban  population  is  not  peculiar 
to  our  own  country.  It  is  a  tendency  that  appears  likely 
to  be  accelerated  rather  than  diminished  throughout  the 
civilized  world  in  coming  years.  A  principle  common  to 
human  nature  underlies  this  movement  of  population. 
A  poor  Irishwoman  preferred  starvation  and  cold  and 
nakedness  in  a  New  York  tenement  to  the  plenty  of  a 
comfortable  country  home  because,  as  she  said,  *'  Paples 
is  more  coompany  than  sthumps  " ;  and  there  is  a  whole 
chapter  of  the  philosophy  of  history  wrapped  up  in  her 
saying.  The  gregarious  instinct  is  strong  in  man,  even 
stronger  in  man  civilized  than  in  man  barbarous ;  and  the 
missionary  enterprise  must  take  account  of  a  fact  so  fun- 
damental in  human  nature  and  adjust  its  methods  accord- 
ingly. Do  not  misunderstand  me.  I  by  no  means  say 
that  missionary  effort  should  be  exclusively  directed  to 
the  urban  population — do  not  think  that  I  would  have 
the  non-urban  population  neglected — but  it  is  plain  that 
in  the  coming  years  a  larger  and  larger  proportion  of 
evangelistic  labors  must  be  put  into  the  places  where  more 
and  more  of  the  people  can  be  found. 

A    third    characteristic    of    the    apostolic    missionary 


36  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

methods  is  the  exclusive  reHance  upon  the  preaching  of 
the  gospel  disclosed  by  them.  This  did  not  mean,  as  some 
Christians  would  have  us  believe,  the  mere  "  heralding  " 
of  salvation  through  Christ.  The  apostles  did  not  hurry- 
skurry  through  the  Roman  empire,  proclaiming  Christ 
in  a  breathless  fashion,  in  hope  that  when  they  had  thus 
preached  to  all  men  the  age  would  end  with  the  second 
coming  of  Christ.  On  the  contrary,  Paul  abode  at 
Antioch  a  whole  year,  at  Corinth  a  year  and  a  half,  at 
Ephesus  two  years  and  three  months,  besides  other  visits 
to  these  same  cities,  some  by  no  means  brief.  There  can 
be  no  reasonable  doubt  that  tradition  is  at  least  correct 
in  representing  the  other  apostles  as  doing  the  like  thing. 
What  preaching  the  gospel  meant  in  the  apostolic  age  has 
been  fully  set  forth  in  the  preceding  chapter.  Suffice 
it  that  it  included  not  merely  everything  that  pertains  to 
bringing  men  to  Christ,  but  everything  necessary  for  the 
edification  of  the  saints.  Witness  especially  the  Epistles 
of  Paul,  notably  those  to  the  churches  at  Corinth, 
Ephesus,  and  Philippi. 

Let  us,  however,  note  particularly  that  there  was  no 
attempt  in  the  apostolic  age  to  supplement  the  work  of 
evangelization  by  the  work  of  education — that  was  the 
work  of  a  later  age,  and  it  produced  the  system  known 
as  the  catechumenate.  In  modern  times  there  have  been 
strenuous  discussions  of  the  true  relation  between  educa- 
tion and  evangelization,  with  missionaries  not  a  few  to 
maintain  that  the  teacher  is  a  better  agency  for  the  con- 
version of  the  heathen  world  than  the  preacher.  But  all 
such  have  been  compelled  to  appeal  for  confirmation  else- 
where than  to  the  teachings  of  the  New  Testament  and 
the  example  of  the  apostles. 

Another  thing  abundantly  clear  regarding  these  earliest 
missionary  methods  is  that  the  apostles  exercised  a  kind 
of  episcopal  authority  over  the  churches  they  established. 


PAUL  37 

The  apostles  were  not  bishops,  and  are  not  called  by  that 
title  in  the  New  Testament,  in  which  episkopos  is  reserved 
for  the  presiding  officer  or  officers  of  a  local  church. 
Oversight  of  all  the  churches  founded  by  them,  not  of 
any  single  church,  was  their  function — which  corresponds 
closely  to  the  later  use  of  the  word  ''  episcopal."  Mis- 
sionaries among  the  heathen  in  our  own  day  have  been 
compelled  by  the  nature  of  their  environment  to  assume 
a  precisely  similar  attitude  toward  the  native  churches 
and  pastors.  But  there  is  no  hint  in  the  New  Testament, 
or  in  the  writings  immediately  following  the  times  of  the 
apostles,  that  episcopal  functions  were  transmitted  by  the 
apostles  to  others.  It  was  the  whole  aim  of  this  apostolic 
supervision  to  bring  the  churches,  at  the  earliest  possible 
moment,  to  the  point  where  they  would  be  capable  of 
standing  alone,  and  the  policy  seems  to  have  been  meas- 
urably successful. 

Not  the  least  instructive  thing  connected  with  mis- 
sionary labors  during  the  apostolic  age  is  the  conception 
of  the  work  that  prevailed.  We  gather  this  from  a  multi- 
tude of  circumstances,  from  many  scattered  phrases, 
rather  than  from  formal  and  positive  statements.  Mis- 
sions were  regarded  as  a  work  to  which  the  followers  of 
Christ  were  divinely  called;  obedience  to  the  command 
of  their  risen  Lord  was  the  great  inspiring  motive.  So  it 
must  ever  be.  No  merely  human  sentiment  can  ever  take 
its  place.  The  actual  heathen,  as  described  by  those  who 
know  them  best,  are  not  lovely  or  lovable,  whatever  the 
heathen  of  our  romantic  imagination  may  be,  and  senti- 
ment would  soon  fade  away  among  the  sordid  surround- 
ings of  an  Asiatic  city  or  an  African  jungle  were  it  not 
strongly  reenforced  by  a  sense  of  duty.  The  robustness  of 
missionary  conviction,  the  warmth  of  missionary  zeal,  in 
any  person  or  church  or  denomination,  may  be  measured 
usually  by  the  energy  of  faith  in  and  exactness  of  obedi- 


38  CHRISTIAN   EPOCH-MAKERS 

ence  to  the  command,  "  Go  ye,  and  make  disciples  of  all 
the  nations."  Obedience  to  Him  whom  God  has  made 
both  Lord  and  Christ  has  been,  is,  and  ever  must  be,  the 
great  inspiring  and  controlling  motive  in  missions. 

The  unity  of  the  work  was  clearly  conceived  in  the 
apostolic  age.  "  The  field  is  the  world."  There  were  no 
artificial  distinctions  between  preaching  the  gospel  in  An- 
tioch  and  preaching  in  Jerusalem,  between  evangelizing 
Judea  and  evangelizing  Macedonia.  Lines  of  separation 
between  city  and  home  and  foreign  missions  were  un- 
known. There  were  no  agents  beseeching  the  churches 
for  collections,  each  jealous  to  see  that  his  society  got 
its  full  share.  Have  we  not  departed  not  only  from  the 
simplicity  but  from  the  effectiveness  of  the  apostolic  mis- 
sions by  dividing  and  subdividing  the  field  and  multiplying 
societies?  And,  forgetting  to  look  on  nothing  less  than 
the  whole  world  as  our  field,  have  not  too  many  of  us  so 
contracted  our  sympathies  and  efforts  as  to  lose  depth  of 
missionary  conviction  and  keenness  of  missionary  interest, 
such  as  appropriately  find  expression  in  generous  giving? 
It  may  be  that  the  campaign  of  education  in  systematic 
giving  will  be  compelled  to  begin  back  of  the  question  of 
giving,  and  attempt  fundamental  instruction  in  regard 
to  the  principles  and  methods  of  missions. 

Not  only  was  the  work  conceived  as  one,  field-wise,  but 
as  a  common  work.  It  was  not  merely  the  apostles,  not 
the  church  at  Jerusalem  or  that  at  Antioch  alone,  that 
were  committed  to  this  work,  but  every  follower  of 
Jesus  and  every  church  gathered  in  his  name.  The  whole 
moral  and  spiritual  force  of  Christianity,  all  the  resources 
of  all  the  churches,  were  subject  to  the  Master's  call.  In 
our  day  it  has  apparently  come  to  be  thought  that  the 
Great  Commission  pertains  only  to  foreign  missionaries, 
or  at  any  rate  to  ministers,  few  ever  imagining  that  it  lays 
any  burden  on  all  Christians.    If  we  cannot  (or  will  not) 


PAUL  39 

literally  obey  the  first  word,  "  Go,"  we  seem  to  think 
ourselves  absolved  from  obligation  to  the  rest  of  the  com- 
mand. But  God  did  not  call  the  whole  church  at  Antioch 
literally  to  ''go  " ;  he  said,  "  Separate  unto  me  Barnabas 
and  Saul  " ;  the  rest  were  called,  indeed,  but  called  to 
send,  not  to  go.  And  those  who  remained  at  Antioch, 
equally  with  the  two  apostles  who  went  forth,  were  obe- 
dient to  Christ  and  became  a  part  of  the  great  evangelizing 
campaign  then  begun. 

This  is  the  way  in  which  the  majority  of  Christians 
will  ever  bear  their  part  in  the  evangelizing  of  the  world. 
Some  will  always  be  called  to  direct  personal  missionary 
service,  but  the  great  multitude  will  be  called  to  serve  by 
proxy.  But  will  those  thus  called  feel  that  they  are 
called  ?  Will  you  who  hear  and  you  who  read  about  mis- 
sions have  any  adequate  sense  that  the  Great  Commission 
lays  a  burden  of  duty  upon  you?  Will  continents  un- 
evangelized  appeal  in  vain  to  your  loyalty  to  the  Lord 
Christ?  Do  your  hearts  never  thrill  in  response  to  that 
oft-quoted  saying  of  Carey,  "  We  are  willing  to  go  down 
into  the  mine,  but  you  must  hold  the  ropes !  " 

The  future  of  the  missionary  cause  among  all  Chris- 
tians depends  largely  upon  the  men  who  from  year  to 
year  go  out  from  our  seminaries.  If  they  are  to  be  men 
of  deep  and  genuine  missionary  conviction;  if  Christ's 
last  words  have  special  significance  for  them;  if  they 
realize  fully  the  unity  of  the  work,  the  universality  of 
the  missionary  obligation;  if  they  are  men  whose  wills 
are  steadfastly  set  to  obey  God — then  the  great  work  of 
evangelizing  the  world,  as  yet  only  promisingly  begun, 
shall  be  carried  to  a  glorious  completion. 


Ill 


ULFILAS :  THE  CONVERSION  OF  THE 
BARBARIANS 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

The  only  real  "source"  for  the  life  of  Ulfilas  is  a  MS.  frag- 
ment by  his  pupil,  Bishop  Auxentius,  first  printed  by  Waitz, 
"  Ueber  das  Leben  und  die  Lehre  des  Ulfilas"  (Hannover,  1840), 
and  more  critically  edited  and  restored  by  Bessell,  Ueber  das  Le- 
ben des  Ulfilas  und  die  Bekehrung  der  Gothen  sum  Christenthum 
(Gottingen,  i860).  The  Christian  historians  nearest  in  time  to 
Ulfilas  add  some  few  particulars,  not  always  to  be  trusted :  Philo- 
storgius,  Socrates,  Sozomen,  etc.  These  sparse  materials  are  re- 
printed in  the  only  English  biography,  Scott's  Ulfilas,  Apostle  of 
the  Goths  (Cambridge,  1885).  For  the  theological  views  of 
Ulfilas,  Gwatkin's  Studies  in  Arianism,  pp.  180-182  (London, 
1882),  is  valuable.  On  the  Gothic  people,  consult:  Wietershcim, 
Geschichte  der  V olkerwanderung  (two  vols.,  Leipzig,  1880), 
Gibbon,  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire,  chap.  XXXVII, 
second  half;  Hodgkin,  Italy  and  Her  Invaders,  Vols.  I-III 
(second  ed.,  Oxford,  1892-9),  and  his  volume  on  Theodoric  in 
the  "  Heroes  of  the  Nations "  series ;  Gueldenpenning,  Theo- 
dosius  der  Grosse  (Halle,  1878).  On  the  version  of  Ulfilas,  see 
Migne,  Latin  Patrology,  Vol.  XVIII,  450,  seq.,  or  better  still,  the 
critical  edition  of  Gabelentz  and  Loebe  (three  vols.,  Leipzig, 
1843-76)  ;  Douse,  Introduction  to  the  Gothic  of  Ulfilas  (London, 
1886)  ;  and  Massman,  Ulfilas,  Die  Heiligen  Schriften  in  Goth- 
scher  Sprache  (Stuttgart,  1857).  Brief  accounts  of  the  life  and 
work  of  Ulfilas  may  also  be  found  in  the  Encyclopedia  Britan- 
nica;  Smith  and  Wade,  Dictionary  of  Christian  Biography; 
Neander,  History  of  the  Christian  Church,  Vol.  II,  pp.  150-159; 
Milman,  History  of  Latin  Christianity,  Vol.  I,  pp.  372-376. 


Ill 

ULFILAS  :  THE  CONVERSION  OF  THE  BARBARIANS 

FROM  the  fourth  century  to  the  sixth  was  a  period 
of  storm  and  stress  in  the  history  of  Rome.  These 
centuries  witnessed  the  downfall  of  the  empire  of  the 
West  and  the  circumscribing  within  narrow  limits  of  the 
power  of  the  Eastern  emperor.  The  agency  that  pro- 
duced these  changes,  and  ultimately  the  political  system 
of  modern  Europe,  was  the  great  migration  of  the  Teu- 
tonic tribes  which,  from  the  earliest  period  of  authentic 
history,  occupied  the  northern  and  central  parts  of  the 
continent. 

We  should  not,  however,  think  of  this  overthrow  of 
the  Western  empire  as  a  social  cataclysm,  a  political 
earthquake.  It  was  a  peaceful  event — a  peaceful  process, 
rather.  The  ones  who  had  long  made  and  unmade  the 
emperors  of  the  West,  at  length  assumed  in  form  the 
sovereignty  that  had  long  been  really  theirs,  sent  to  Con- 
stantinople the  useless  imperial  insignia,  and  informed 
the  emperor  of  the  East  that  there  was  no  more  a  West- 
ern empire.  A  Gothic  king  reigned  in  the  stead  of  the 
Caesars  at  Rome.  For  this  change  events  had  been  slowly 
preparing  through  several  centuries. 

From  its  early  history,  the  Roman  empire  was  in  con- 
stant danger  of  being  submerged  by  the  hordes  of  north- 
ern barbarians.  In  the  early  period  of  the  republic,  the 
city  narrowly  escaped  destruction  at  the  hands  of  Brennus 
and  his  Gauls.  Roman  historians  poorly  disguised,  under 
the  story  of  a  great  victory  by  Camillus,  the  fact  that 
Rome  escaped  total  destruction  only  by  the  payment  of  a 

43 


44  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

ransom  that  left  the  city  impoverished.  So  soon  as  Rome 
made  herself  mistress  of  Italy,  she  was  compelled  to  con- 
quer Gaul  in  self-defense.  She  attempted  the  same  policy 
toward  Germany,  but  the  defeat  of  Varus  and  the  annihi- 
lation of  his  legions  compelled  the  emperors  to  give  up  all 
thoughts  of  a  conquest  of  the  Germans.  For,  though 
Germ.anicus  in  part  avenged  the  defeat  of  Varus,  the 
empire  was  compelled  to  content  itself  with  making  the 
Rhine  its  frontier.  The  Danube  became  the  frontier  on 
the  east,  and  Augustus  left  a  solemn  injunction  to  his 
successors  to  abandon  the  policy  of  conquest,  and  con- 
tent themselves  with  a  better  organization  and  govern- 
ment of  the  lands  already  won. 

From  this  time  onward  the  empire  practically  ceased 
to  be  a  conqueror  and  stood  on  the  defensive.  It  is  a 
maxim  of  war  that  defensive  campaigns  are  in  general 
disastrous,  and  such  this  proved  to  be.  Under  all  the 
emperors  down  to  Constantine,  there  was  a  constant 
struggle  to  keep  back  the  ever-advancing  hosts  of  bar- 
barians. When  the  pressure  became  too  strong  at  some 
point  and  the  military  power  of  the  empire  became  too 
weak  for  successful  resistance,  the  emperors  occasionally 
adopted  the  desperate  expedient  of  receiving  bands  of 
these  Teutonic  tribes  into  the  empire.'  They  were  pro- 
vided with  lands  on  which  they  settled,  and  the  fighting 
men  among  them  were  incorporated  into  the  imperial 
legions. 

In  this  way  the  evil  day  was  postponed,  but  in  spite  of 
all  such  expedients  it  came  at  last.  The  weakness  of  the 
empire  was  as  apparent  to  the  barbarians  as  it  was  to 
the  emperors.  The  free  population  of  Italy  and  the  older 
provinces  became  depleted  by  war,  pestilence,  and  other 

^  Thus,  in  386,  after  Theodosius  had  temporarily  checked  the  advance  of 
the  Goths,  he  distributed  large  numbers  of  them  through  Thrace,  Mcesia, 
and  Asia  Minor,  and  enlisted  forty  thousand  of  them  in  the  imperial 
service. 


ULFILAS  45 

causes.  The  yeomen  who  had  once  formed  the  strength 
of  Roman  armies  ceased  to  exist,  and  the  virile  energy  of 
the  population  was  sapped  by  luxury  and  vice.  The 
empire  came  to  rely  for  its  defense  on  recruits  from 
the  once-despised  barbarians ;  and  it  was  the  natural  thing 
that  those  who  thus  possessed  the  power  should  grasp 
authority  and  honor. 

The  force  that  finally  made  the  incursion  of  the  bar- 
baiians  fatal  to  the  Roman  empire  was  the  tremendous  and 
overwhelming  pressure  upon  them  of  the  Huns,  a  people 
yet  more  numerous  and  fierce  than  themselves.  Toward 
the  close  of  the  fourth  century  these  Huns,  who  origi- 
nated in  the  vast  steppes  lying  to  the  north  of  the  Cas- 
pian Sea,  began  to  migrate  westward.  Their  hosts  seemed 
innumerable  and  their  fierce  valor  made  them  irresistible. 
Even  the  Goths  were  forced  to  retire  before  these  in- 
vaders, and  they  could  retire  only  by  invading  the  empire. 
Like  a  tidal  wave  they  inundated  Italy,  Spain,  and  south- 
ern Gaul,  overthrowing  the  Roman  troops  and  govern- 
ments, and  establishing  a  kingdom  that  endured  for  nearly 
two  centuries. 

This  Gothic  conquest  had  various  effects  in  the  different 
provinces  of  the  empire.  In  Italy  itself  the  Goths  were 
never  more  than  an  encamped  host  of  armed  Invaders,  and 
after  a  severe  conflict  they  were  at  length  driven  out, 
leaving  comparatively  few  traces  of  their  conquest.  In 
Spain  their  settlement  was  more  permanent ;  they  became 
assimilated  to  the  population,  and  their  political  power 
endured  to  the  Moorish  conquest,  in  the  eighth  century. 
A  similar  result  followed  in  southern  Gaul,  and  in  con- 
sequence that  region  is  to  this  day  almost  as  much  Spanish 
as  French. 

Another  branch  of  the  Teutons,  the  Vandals,  after  in- 
vading Spain  and  leaving  in  the  name  of  one  of  its  chief 
provinces,  Andalusia,  a  permanent  memorial  of  their  pres- 


46  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

ence,  established  themselves  in  north  Africa,  and  re- 
mained there  for  two  centuries.  During  this  time  they 
invaded  Italy  and  took  and  sacked  Rome.  The  later  his- 
torians tell  us  that  these  people  are  by  no  means  so  black 
as  they  have  been  painted  by  the  Roman  writers,  and  that 
in  reality  they  committed  few  of  those  excesses  that  we 
have  come  to  think  at  once  described  and  condemned  by 
the  word  "  vandalism." 

It  is  not  only  the  external  history  of  what  is  called  the 
"  fall  "  of  Rome  that  is  generally  misapprehended ;  we 
are  probably  accustomed  to  think  of  it  as  a  great  calamity. 
The  incursion  of  the  barbarians  seems  to  us  a  relapse  of 
Roman  society  into  barbarism,  a  retrogression  of  the 
Western  world  in  civilization.  Such,  no  doubt,  it  was  to 
some  extent,  and  such  it  would  have  been  completely  but 
for  one  fact :  these  ''  barbarians  "  were  no  longer  bar- 
barous. They  were  well-nigh  as  civilized  as  the  Romans 
who  affected  to  despise  them.  Their  kings  were  not  the 
rough,  uncouth,  unlearned  men  that  we  have  pictured 
to  ourselves  under  the  influence  of  the  narrow-minded 
Roman  writers.  They  were  men  of  light  and  leading, 
patrons  of  the  arts  and  of  learning,  quite  the  equals  of 
Constantine  and  Charlemagne,  for  example,  whom  no- 
body would  class  among  barbarians. 

In  particular  this  is  true  of  Theodoric,  who  for  thirty- 
.three  years  was  king  of  Italy.  This  was  a  time  of  peace 
-.and  happiness  for  that  desolated  country,  such  as  it  had 
not  known  for  centuries.  With  a  strong  hand  Theodoric 
held  in  check  the  turbulent  Gothic  nobles,  and  with  equal 
sternness  he  reformed  the  administration  and  punished 
the  venality  of  Roman  officials.  He  was  not  insensible  to 
the  worth  of  Roman  civilization,  and  he  did  all  in  his 
power  to  foster  art  and  learning.  Freeman  does  not  put 
the  case  too  strongly  when  he  thus  describes  the  results 
of  the  Gothic  conquest  of  Italy : 


ULFILAS  47 

The  Teuton  rent  away  the  provinces  of  the  empire;  but  in 
rending  them  away  he  accepted  the  faith,  the  tongue,  and  to  a 
great  extent,  the  laws  of  the  empire.  This  was,  of  a  truth,  the 
greatest  conquest  Rome  ever  made;  if  Greece  led  captive  her 
Roman  conqueror,  far  more  thoroughly  did  Rome  lead  captive 
her  Teutonic  conqueror. 

It  is  true  that  Theodoric  would  be  called  an  uneducated 
man  in  our  day  because  he  could  not  write;  but  neither 
could  Charlemagne,  and  Constantine  could  write  but 
little.  Theodoric  was,  however,  not  ignorant  of  either 
literature  or  art,  but  singularly  well  versed  in  both  for  a 
great  ruler,  and  during  his  reign  both  art  and  literature 
flourished.  His  ideals  were  high.  The  learned  Roman, 
Cassiodorus,  has  preserved  this  saying  of  his :  "  Let  other 
kings  seek  to  procure  booty,  or  the  downfall  of  conquered 
cities ;  our  purpose  is,  with  God's  help,  so  to  conquer  that 
our  subjects  shall  lament  that  they  have  too  late  come 
under  our  rule."  Christians  of  various  beliefs  enjoyed 
under  him  a  toleration  that  was  not  only  unusual  in  that 
time,  but  that  had  no  parallel  in  after  times  until  the  last 
century.  The  excellence  of  his  rule  is  witnessed  by  the 
number  of  eulogistic  legends  that  have  gathered  about 
his  name,  and  the  monuments  that  remain  at  Ravenna 
testify  to  his  taste  in  the  fine  arts.  The  peace  and  pros- 
perity of  Italy  for  half  a  century  were  due  to  him  and  his 
wise  labors.  He  has  been  happily  called  "  the  barbarian 
champion  of  civilization." 

Such  were  the  Goths  and  their  kings,  and  they  were 
such  because  before  they  conquered  Rome,  Christianity 
had  conquered  them.  The  same  was  true,  to  a  more  lim- 
ited extent,  of  the  Vandals  and  other  Teutonic  invaders 
of  the  empire.  The  West  and  its  civilization  were  saved 
from  being  overwhelmed  by  a  deluge  of  barbarism, 
because  those  who  became  its  conquerors  had  been  in 
great  part  redeemed   from  barbarism  by  the  gospel  of 


48  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

Christ.     And  this  result  was  mainly  due  to  the  life  and 
labors  of  a  single  man. 

That  man  was  Ulfilas.  We  know  singularly  little  about 
his  life  in  comparison  with  that  which  we  know  he  accom- 
plished. Legend  has  surrounded  the  names  of  Patrick 
and  Columba,  of  Boniface  and  Ansgar,  with  much  that 
is  fantastic  and  incredible,  but  we  have  not  even  legends 
about  Ulfilas.  Both  the  date  and  place  of  his  birth  are^ 
in  doubt,  and  even  his  nationality  is  not  certainly  known. 
He  was  born  somewhere  about  the  year  311,  and  the  his- 
torian Philostorgius  tells  us  that  he  belonged  to  a  Cappa- 
docian  family  made  captives  by  the  Goths  while  he  was 
yet  a  child.  From  his  captors  he  received  the  name  Wul- 
fila,  or  little  wolf.  It  is  evident  that  he  received  some 
education,  including  a  knowledge  of  the  Greek  language ; 
and  this  fact  agrees  with  the  statement  that  while  still  a 
youth,  perhaps  about  the  year  332,  he  was  sent  with 
others  of  his  countrymen  on  an  embassy  to  the  imperial 
court  at  Constantinople.  It  is  conjectured  that  he  was 
detained  some  years  as  a  hostage  in  that  city,  and  that  his 
education  and  conversion  then  occurred.  At  any  rate,  it 
is  known  that  he  became  a  lector,  or  lay  reader.  The  time 
and  circumstances  of  his  conversion  can  only  be  conjec- 
tured, but  beyond  conjecture  is  now  the  fact  that  from 
the  first  he  belonged  to  the  Arian  party;  hence  it  is  rea- 
sonable to  suppose  that  his  conversion  and  education  were 
due  to  members  of  that  party.  His  creed,  preserved  by 
his  pupil,  Auxentius,  begins  with  the  words,  "  I,  Ulfilas, 
bishop  and  confessor,  have  always  thus  believed."  This 
decisively  negatives  the  story  of  Sozomen,  to  the  effect 
that  Ulfilas  was  a  convert  to  the  Orthodox  faith  before 
going  to  Constantinople,  and  was  there  perverted  by  the 
Arian  bishops. 

In  341,  at  the  age  of  thirty,  Ulfilas  is  said  to  have  been 
consecrated  (by  Eusebius  and  other  Arian  bishops  assem- 


ULFILAS  49 

bled  at  Antioch)  missionary  bishop  to  the  Goths.  This 
is  thought  by  some  to  be  evidence  of  previous  missionary 
labors  among  that  people,  it  being  argued  that  an  untried 
young  man  would  scarcely  be  made  a  bishop,  even  for 
missionary  service.  Since  he  was  thus  consecrated  by 
Arian  bishops,  as  well  as  on  the  strength  of  his  own  con- 
fession, from  this  time  onward  he  must  be  reckoned  as 
belonging  to  that  party,  whatever  his  previous  affiliations 
may  have  been.  Little  is  known  concerning  the  details  of 
the  work  upon  which  he  now  entered ;  the  one  thing  cer- 
tain is  that  it  was  abundantly  successful.  No  better  evi- 
dence of  this  is  needed  than  the  bitter  and  unrelenting 
persecution  instituted  against  him  and  his  friends  (about 
350)  by  the  king  of  the  Visigoths,  Athanaric.  In  conse- 
quence of  this  persecution,  Ulfilas  sought  and  obtained 
permission  from  Emperor  Constantius  to  bring  his  con- 
verts across  the  Danube.  They  settled  in  Moesia,  near 
Nicopolis ;  and  from  this  leadership  of  his  people  he  was 
named  "  the  Moses  of  the  Goths." 

This  removal  of  the  converts  made  up  to  that  time  was 
by  no  means  the  end  of  missionary  activity;  Christianity 
continued  to  make  its  way  among  the  Goths,  and  before 
his  death  in  381  Ulfilas  saw  Athanaric  a  convert  to  Christ, 
and  practically  the  whole  Gothic  nation  following  in  the 
footsteps  of  their  king.  It  is  seldom  that  any  missionary 
has  had  the  privilege  of  seeing  so  great  results  from  his 
preaching;  in  most  cases  a  generation  or  two  passes  before 
the  harvest  is  reached  from  the  first  seed-sowing.  And 
the  brightness  of  this  triumph  is  not  dimmed  by  the 
employment  of  violent  or  unworthy  means  in  the  conver- 
sion of  the  Goths.  Whole  nations  have  sometimes  been 
converted  and  baptized  at  the  point  of  the  sword,  or  by 
the  compulsion  of  their  monarch — Mohammed's  principle, 
"the  Koran  or  death,"  has  had  too  many  precedents  in 
the  history  of  Christianity — but  there  was  nothing  of  this 


50  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

in  the  conversion  of  the  Goths.  It  was  accompHshed  by 
persuasion  alone,  by  the  inherent  power  of  the  gospel,  and 
by  the  apostolic  fervor  and  devotedness  of  Ulfilas,  in  the 
face  of  bitter  and  determined  opposition. 

One  great  agency  in  accomplishing  this  result  was  the 
translation  of  the  Scriptures  into  the  Gothic  tongue.  How 
complete  this  version  was  must  remain  a  matter  of  doubt. 
Only  fragments  of  it  have  survived,  and  conflicting  ac- 
counts make  it  impossible  to  decide  whether  the  whole 
Bible  was  translated  into  Gothic,  either  by  Ulfilas  or 
others.  Philostorgius  indeed  tells  us  that  Ulfilas  (whom 
he  calls  Ourphilas)  translated  all  the  books  of  both  the 
Old  and  New  Testaments,  with  the  exception  of  Samuel 
and  Kings,  which  he  omitted  because  of  the  wars  related 
in  them,  judging  that  his  people,  who  were  passionately 
fond  of  war,  were  more  in  need  of  bit  than  spur.  But 
complete  credence  cannot  be  given  to  this,  or  to  any  other 
unsupported  statement  of  Philostorgius.' 

Prior  to  the  making  of  this  version,  the  Goths  had  no 
literature,  no  written  language  even,  and  before  he  could 
begin  his  work  of  translation  Ulfilas  was  compelled  to 
provide  an  alphabet  of  twenty-four  letters.  Twenty  he 
borrowed  from  the  Grseco-Roman  alphabet,  and  four  he 
invented,  to  express  sounds  common  to  all  the  Teutonic 
tongues,  but  not  found  in  Greek  or  Latin.  Ulfilas  is  said 
by  some  to  have  done  more  than  translate  the  Scrip- 
tures— to  have  introduced  the  Goths  to  some  of  the  treas- 
ures of  classic  literature,  and  to  have  composed  some 

^  Of  the  Greek  church  historians  in  general  one  may  remark  that  if  a 
fact  is  otherwise  well  authenticated  we  must  believe  it,  in  spite  of  their 
having  recorded  it.  Not  that  they  meant  to  lie,  always,  but  they  were  utterly 
careless  of  the  distinction  between  truth  and  falsehood,  if  indeed  they 
were  capable  of  perceiving  such  distinction.  If  an  alleged  fact  made  for 
their  view  of  the  case,  or  fitted  handily  into  their  narrative,  or  embellished 
their  story,  or  made  a  good  weapon  against  an  adversary,  that  was  enough. 
That  method  of  writing  church  history  has  unfortunately  not  been  confined 
exclusively  to   Greeks  nor  to  the  early  centuries  of  the  Christian  era. 


ULFILAS  51 

religious  treatises.  However  this  may  be,  by  giving  his 
people  a  written  language,  he  opened  to  them  the  treas- 
ures of  the  world's  learning,  as  they  were  prepared  to 
profit  by  them,  and  made  way  for  the  refining  influences 
of  a  civilization  higher  than  their  own. 

We  are  not  likely  to  exaggerate  the  part  that  this  trans- 
lation played  in  the  conversion  of  the  Goths.  It  was  cir- 
culated in  manuscript  among  the  tribes,  and  preserved  as 
a  priceless  treasure.  "  Goths  and  Vandals  alike  carried 
it  with  them  on  their  wanderings  through  Europe. 
Whether  as  a  religious  observance,  or  in  the  superstitious 
hope  of  reading  the  future  on  the  chance-appointed 
page,  it  was  consulted  on  the  battlefields  of  Gaul  be- 
fore the  fight  began.  The  Vandals  took  it  into  Spain 
and  Africa,  and  with  their  leader  Genseric  it  came  round 
to  Rome."  ^ 

And  yet,  for  centuries  this  version  was  lost  sight  of 
and  supposed  to  be  no  longer  in  existence.  About  1500, 
portions  of  the  four  Gospels  were  found  in  a  monastery 
of  Westphalia,  near  Diisseldorf,  and  the  precious  copy, 
after  many  mutations  of  fortune,  is  now  preserved  in  the 
library  of  the  University  of  Upsala,  Sweden.  The  MS. 
is  known  as  the  Codex  Argenteus,  from  the  circumstance 
that  it  is  written  in  letters  of  silver  on  purple  vellum,  a 
few  words  at  the  beginning  of  each  section  being  emblaz- 
oned in  gold.  A  palimpsest  of  the  fifth  century  in  the 
Biblioteca  Ambrosiana,  at  Milan,  contains  the  Pauline 
Epistles  and  other  parts  of  the  version  of  Ulfilas,  together 
with  a  fragment  of  a  Gothic  calendar.  The  surviving 
remnants  of  the  version — for  a  few  other  fragments  have 
been  recovered — have  an  almost  equal  religious  and  philo- 
logic  interest.    They  are  at  once  the  oldest  literature  in  a 

*  Gibbon,  while  always  inclined  to  sneer  at  the  conversion  of  the  bar- 
barians, felt  compelled  to  recognize  the  immediate  historical  significance  of 
the  event. 


52  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

Teutonic  tongue,  a  literary  monument  of  the  highest 
value,  and  a  monument  of  one  of  the  greatest  missionary 
triumphs  in  the  history  of  Christianity. 

It  would,  of  course,  be  the  height  of  absurdity  to  sup- 
pose that  the  conversion  of  the  Goths  was  brought  about 
by  the  labors  of  Ulfilas  alone.  No  man  single-handed 
converts  '*'  a  nation  in  a  day."  Without  doubt  he  had  a 
multitude  of  zealous  and  faithful  co-laborers  and  follow- . 
ers;  and  though  no  record  of  their  names  or  labors  re- 
mains on  earth,  they  are  recorded  in  the  book  of  God's 
remembrance,  and  they  shall  be  his  in  that  day  when 
he  makes  up  his  jewels.  It  is  probable  that  he  had  been 
preceded  by  involuntary  missionaries,  those  who  like  him- 
self had  been  made  captives,  and  while  detained  among 
the  Goths,  in  a  state  of  virtual  or  actual  slavery,  had  been 
faithful  to  their  religion  and  preached  Christ  to  these 
heathen.  Some  such  preparation  of  the  soil  seems  neces- 
sary to  account  for  the  rapidity  with  which  the  seed  sown 
by  Ulfilas  ripened  to  the  harvest.  Without  depreciation 
of  the  power  of  the  divine  Spirit,  human  agency  on  a 
larger  scale  than  history  hints  at  must  be  supposed  to 
have  preceded  and  accompanied  the  labors  of  Ulfilas.  To 
suppose  otherwise  would  be  equivalent  to  saying  that  in 
this  case  the  usual  laws  of  Christ's  kingdom  were  sus- 
pended and  something  very  like  a  miracle  was  wrought 
in  the  conversion  of  the  Goths. 

We  should  doubtless  fall  into  serious  error  if  we  as- 
sumed that  this  "  conversion  "  was  complete.  That  there 
was  genuine  change  of  character  in  the  case  of  individ- 
uals, possibly  thousands,  we  need  not  indeed  question, 
but  that  in  the  vast  majority  of  cases  the  transition  from 
heathenism  to  Christianity  was  purely  formal  is  hardly 
doubtful.  Gibbon  has,  naturally,  not  missed  his  oppor- 
tunity for  a  sneer  at  what  even  he  is  constrained  to  call 
a  glorious  and  decisive  victory  of  Christianity: 


ULFILAS 


53 


The  different  motives  which  influenced  the  reason  or  the  pas- 
sions of  the  barbaric  converts  cannot  be  easily  ascertained.  They 
were  often  capricious  and  accidental— a  dream,  an  omen,  the  re- 
port of  a  miracle,  the  example  of  some  priest  or  hero,  the 
charms  of  a  believing  wife,  and  above  all,  the  fortunate  event 
of  a  prayer  or  vow  which,  in  a  moment  of  danger,  they  had 
addressed  to  the  God  of  the  Christians. 

It  is  true  that  most,  if  not  all,  the  incidents  mentioned 
by  the  historian  are  illustrated  in  the  history  of  missions ; 
in  such  an  account  of  the  progress  of  Christianity  facts 
are  not  misstated,  but  the  great  and  significant  facts  are 
ignored.  The  possibility  that  the  heathen  might  have 
been  really  persuaded  of  the  truth  of  the  Christian  relig- 
ion, and  led  to  exercise  a  genuine  faith  in  Christ,  either 
does  not  occur  to  such  a  writer,  or  if  it  occurs  is  smi- 
lingly rejected  as  a  hypothesis  quite  too  ridiculous  for 
the  consideration  of  a  serious  person.  There  was  lack- 
ing from  Gibbon's  summary  of  reasons  only  the  sugges- 
tion of.  self-interest  as  a  motive  for  the  profession  of 
conversion,  and  the  learned  historian  was  equal  to  the 
occasion : 

The  advantage  of  temporal  prosperity  had  deserted  the  pagan 
cause  and  passed  over  to  the  service  of  Christianity.  The  Ro- 
mans themselves,  the  most  powerful  and  enlightened  nation  of 
the  globe,  had  renounced  their  ancient  superstition;  and  if  the 
ruin  of  their  empire  seemed  to  accuse  the  efficacy  of  the  new 
faith,  the  disgrace  was  already  retrieved  by  the  conversion  of 
the  Goths.  The  valiant  and  fortunate  barbarians  who  subdued 
the  provinces  of  the  West  successively  received  and  reflected 
the  same  edifying  example.  Before  the  age  of  Charlemagne,  the 
Christian  nations  of  Europe  might  exult  in  the  exclusive  pos- 
session of  the  temperate  climates  of  the  fertile  lands  which  pro- 
duced corn,  wine,  and  oil;  while  the  savage  idolaters  and  their 
helpless  idols  were  confined  to  the  extremities  of  the  earth,  the 
dark  and  frozen  regions  of  the  North. 

This  is  such  a  gem  as  might  be  expected  from  a  histo- 
rian who  can  see  good  in  all  religions  except  Christianity, 


54  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

and  is  quite  prepared  to  believe  that  all  men  may  be 
inspired,  save  those  who  wrote  the  Bible. 

We  have  seen  that  Ulfilas  was  an  Arian,  and  professed 
to  have  held  that  form  of  Christianity  from  the  first.  He 
should,  to  be  quite  accurate,  be  classed  with  the  Semi- 
Arians  rather  than  with  the  Arians  proper — those  who 
would  not  say,  with  Arius,  that  Christ  was  a  creature, 
but  also  would  not  say,  with  the  Orthodox,  that  the  Son 
was  equal  to  or  consubstantial  with  the  Father.  The 
difference  is,  however,  of  little  moment  historically,  what- 
ever may  be  conceded  to  be  its  dogmatic  significance,  since 
all  deviation  from  the  Creed  of  Nicsea  was  finally  con- 
demned as  heretical.  The  essential  fact,  therefore,  is  that 
Ulfilas  was  not  an  orthodox  Christian,  according  to  the 
Nicene  standard.  And  the  converts  that  he  made  natu- 
rally professed  the  faith  that  he  held;  hence  the  Goths 
and  Vandals  were  Arians.  This  was  an  additional  reason 
for  the  hatred  of  their  conquerors  that  the  Romans  always 
displayed;  these  invincible  warriors  were  not  only 
"  barbarians,"  but  heretics. 

The  church  early  arrived  at  that  conception  of  Chris- 
tian liberty  which  Lowell,  half  jestingly,  half  bitterly,  has 
stated  in  his  "  Fable  for  Critics  " : 

the  right 
Of  privately  judging  means  simply  that  light 
Has  been  granted  to  me,  for  deciding  on  you; 
And  in  happier  times,  before  atheism  grew, 
The  deed  contained  clauses  for  cooking  you  too. 

Accordingly,  the  Arians  and  the  Orthodox  hated  each 
other  like  Christian  brothers,  and  persecuted  one  another 
to  the  death  for  the  glory  of  God.  The  Goths,  though 
inflexibly  devoted  to  the  Arian  theology,  not  seldom  dis- 
played a  moderation  and  tolerance  that  should  have 
shamed  their  Orthodox  opponents;  but  the  Vandals  of 
north  Africa,  precisely  because  they  were  less  Christian, 


ULFILAS  55 

were  more  frantically  devoted  to  their  faith.  As  a  rule, 
one  finds  it  true  everywhere  and  in  every  age,  that  no  man 
is  such  a  stickler  for  orthodoxy — that  is  to  say,  his 
*'  doxy  " — as  the  man  who  hasn't  enough  religion  in  his 
heart  to  be  discovered,  in  Mr.  Weller's  classic  phrase,  by  a 
"  pair  o'  patent  double  million  magnifyin'  gas  microscopes 
of  hextra  power."  Therefore  it  is  quite  in  keeping  with 
what  we  know  of  human  nature  in  general,  that  the 
crudest  persecution  of  early  Christian  times,  surpassing 
any  set  on  foot  by  pagan  emperor,  was  that  of  the  Arian 
Vandals  in  north  Africa  against  the  Orthodox  Christians 
of  their  day. 

There  were  three  other  Teutonic  tribes  whose  conver- 
sion belongs  to  this  period.  First  of  these  in  time  were 
the  Suevi,  who  came  into  Spain  in  advance  of  the  Goths 
and  were  driven  by  the  latter  into  the  extreme  north- 
western portion  of  the  peninsula.  How  or  when  they 
became  Christians  is  not  known ;  the  fact  of  their  conver- 
sion, however,  is  so  recorded  as  not  to  be  doubtful.  We 
may  perhaps  conjecture  that  the  version  of  Ulfilas,  which 
became  the  common  heritage  of  the  Teutonic  peoples  of 
the  fifth  century,  had  much  to  do  with  it.  Though  these 
tribes  were  often  at  war  with  each  other,  they  had  a  com- 
mon language  (with  tribal  variations),  recognized  their 
community  of  blood,  and  in  the  intervals  of  their  war- 
fare had  some  friendly  intercourse.  That  Christianity 
should  spread  from  tribe  to  tribe  under  such  conditions 
is  no  more  than  we  might  reasonably  expect. 

Early  in  the  fifth  century  the  Burgundians  settled  in 
southeastern  Gaul,  and  at  the  end  of  that  century  had 
firmly  established  themselves  there.  The  Rhone  became 
a  Burgundian  river,  and  Lyons  and  Vienne  were  the  prin- 
cipal cities  of  their  province.  This  tribe  was  also  Chris- 
tianized, but  again  conjecture  must  supply  the  place  of 
records  as  to  detail.    The  Burgundians  made  their  settle- 


56  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

ment  in  Gaul  with  the  consent  of  the  Romans,  and  main- 
tained friendly  relations  with  them;  hence  it  is  very 
likely  that  they  received  the  gospel  from  that  source. 
That  would  account  for  the  fact  that  the  Burgundians, 
if  not  orthodox  from  the  first,  speedily  embraced  the 
Roman  and  orthodox  faith. 

The  third  and  most  important  of  these  tribes  was  the 
Franks.  The  king  of  the  Franks,  Clovis,  had  married  a 
niece  of  the  king  of  Burgundy,  Clotilde,  who  was  a 
Christian.  Before  a  battle  that  he  fought  with  the  Ale- 
manni,  he  is  said  to  have  made  a  vow  to  worship  the  God 
of  the  Christians  if  the  victory  was  his.  He  conquered, 
and  was  as  good  as  his  word:  he  was  baptized  by  Re- 
migius,  archbishop  of  Rheims,  together  with  three  thou- 
sand of  his  nobles,  who  knew  their  duty  to  their  royal 
master  too  well  to  refuse  compliance  with  his  will  in  a 
little  thing  like  that.  This  ''  conversion  "  was  strikingly 
like  that  of  Constantine,  not  only  in  the  manner  of  its 
occurrence,  but  in  its  extent.  That  is  to  say,  Clovis, 
though  now  bearing  the  Christian  name,  was  the  same 
in  character  as  before.  The  most  marked  display  of  his 
Christian  faith  that  is  recorded  occurred  one  day  in 
church,  when  he  heard  for  the  first  time  a  moving  sermon 
on  the  crucifixion ;  he  started  up  in  the  midst  of  the  dis- 
course and  declared  that  if  he  and  his  brave  Franks  had 
been  there  summary  vengeance  would  have  been  taken 
on  those  Jews.  But  this  one  flash  of  religious  zeal,  itself 
far  more  heathen  than  Christian,  stands  alone;  for  the 
rest  he  was  still  the  same  cruel,  vindictive,  barbarian 
warrior  that  he  had  been.  His  people,  however,  gradually 
(very  gradually,  it  must  be  confessed)  became  more 
Christianized  and  civilized. 

This  conversion  of  the  Franks  had  great  results  on  the 
subsequent  fortunes  of  Christianity.  They  were  the 
rising  people  among  the  Teutons,  while  the  Goths  were 


ULFILAS  57 

already  beginning  to  decline.  They  had  been  converted  to 
the  orthodox  faith  by  the  clergy  of  the  Catholic  Church. 
The  other  Teutons  were  mostly  Arians.  From  this  time 
onward,  therefore,  all  the  power  of  the  Catholic  Church 
in  the  West,  all  the  influence  of  the  bishop  of  Rome — a 
power  and  influence  by  no  means  small,  even  in  the  fifth 
century — were  exerted  in  behalf  of  the  Franks.  The 
other  Teutonic  kingdoms  vanished,  the  tribes  being  exter- 
minated or  incorporated  among  the  Franks,  while  the 
Frankish  kingdom  continued  to  increase,  until  under 
Charlemagne  two  centuries  later,  it  rivaled  in  extent  and 
power  the  old  empire  of  the  West.  The  triumph  of  the 
Franks  was  the  triumph  of  the  Catholic  faith,  as  was 
made  evident  to  all  men,  when,  on  Christmas  day,  800, 
Pope  Leo  III  placed  a  crown  on  the  head  of  Charlemagne 
and  proclaimed  him  first  emperor  of  a  new  Holy  Roman 
empire. 

At  the  close  of  the  fifth  century  the  political  map  of 
Europe  may  be  outlined  as  follows :  The  Eastern  empire 
was  restricted  to  Thrace  and  Greece  (together  with  its 
Asiatic  provinces  and  Egypt)  ;  the  Ostrogoths  held  Italy 
and  that  part  of  modern  Turkey  adjacent  to  the  Adriatic, 
while  the  Visigoths  possessed  Spain  and  the  contiguous 
third  of  France ;  the  Suevi  had  substantially  the  territory 
of  modern  Portugal ;  the  Burgundians  occupied  south- 
eastern France,  and  the  Franks  the  northern  portion, 
together  with  a  slice  of  western  Germany.  Each  of  these 
nations  had,  nominally  at  least,  embraced  Christianity. 
The  only  portion  of  Europe  that  remained  strictly  heathen 
was  the  greater  part  of  Germany,  the  Scandinavian  coun- 
tries, and  Russia.  All  this  had  been  accomplished  in  a 
century  and  a  half.  Surely  it  is  no  exaggeration  to  say 
that,  next  to  the  conquest  of  the  Roman  empire,  the 
most  glorious  chapter  in  the  history  of  Christianity  is  its 
conquest  of  the  barbarians  of  the  fifth  century. 


58  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

The  first  and  most  striking  result  of  this  conquest  was 
a  great  increase  in  the  power  of  the  CathoHc  Church  and 
of  its  chief  representative  in  the  West,  the  bishop  of 
Rome.  The  beginning  of  the  papacy  is  contemporaneous 
with  the  decHne  of  the  Western  empire.  For  several 
centuries  after  the  emperors  ceased  to  rule,  there  was  no 
settled  political  system  in  Italy  not  only,  but  in  western 
Europe.  The  Church  was  the  one  institution  that  did  not 
undergo  successive  and  violent  revolutions.  No  political 
or  social  organization  was  able  to  preserve  continuity  of 
life  in  the  struggles  that  followed  the  Teutonic  migra- 
tions. But  the  Church  was  unshaken;  it  was  the  one 
institution  on  earth  that  seemed  to  be  without  change, 
and  in  fact  the  only  change  it  underwent  was  to  become 
more  solid,  more  stable,  more  powerful.  Kingdom  after 
kingdom  arose,  flourished,  and  disintegrated,  but  the 
Church  remained. 

No  wonder  this  fact  took  a  strong  hold  of  the  imagina- 
tions of  men.  No  wonder  the  visible  representative  of  the 
Catholic  unity,  the  pope,  gained  increase  of  honor  and 
influence  with  every  generation.  Even  an  Attila  was  not 
insensible  to  the  dignity  that  hedged  about  a  Leo,  and 
spared  Rome  the  threatened  destruction  at  the  interces- 
sion of  the  venerable  pontiff.  And  on  the  whole,  the 
Church  used  its  power  with  moderation  and  wisdom,  with 
beneficent  results.  "  The  barbarians,"  says  Fisher,  "  were 
awed  by  the  kingdom  of  righteousness,  which,  without 
exerting  force,  opposed  to  force  and  passion  an  undaunted 
front.  There  was  often  a  conflict  between  their  love  of 
power  and  passionate  impatience  of  control  and  their 
reverence  for  the  priest  and  for  the  gospel.  They  could 
not  avoid  feeling  in  some  measure  the  softening  and 
restraining  influence  of  Christian  teaching  and  learning 
the  lessons  of  the  cross.  Socially,  the  Church  as  such 
was  always  on  the  side  of  peace,  on  the  side  of  industry, 


ULFILAS  59 

on  the  side  of  purity^  on  the  side  of  liberty  for  the  slave, 
and  protection  for  the  oppressed."  Let  one  imagine,  if 
he  can,  what  the  Dark  Ages  that  followed  would  have 
been  without  the  Church,  in  spite  of  all  its  corruptions, 
and  he  will  have  a  more  adequate  measure  of  the  value 
of  its  work.  It  was  for  centuries  the  sole  barrier  between 
western  Europe  and  an  Asiatic  and  pagan  barbarism. 

It  is  true  that  a  second  result  of  the  imperfect  conver- 
sion of  the  barbarians  was  an  appalling  state  of  ignorance, 
superstition,  and  immorality  throughout  what  we  call  the 
Dark  Ages,  down  to  the  time  of  the  Reformation,  whose 
consequences  are  felt  even  to  our  own  day.  What  else 
could  have  been  expected  ?  It  was  little  short  of  a  miracle 
that  anything  of  true  religion,  of  learning,  of  the  refine- 
ments of  civilization,  survived  the  barbarian  invasion  of 
the  West.  Our  wonder  should  be,  not  that  the  case  of 
Europe  was  thereafter  so  bad,  but  that  it  was  not  vastly 
worse.  And  after  all,  recent  researches  have  shown  that 
the  Dark  Ages  were  not  a  time  of  such  Egyptian  darkness 
as  was  once  supposed.  It  was  twilight,  not  midnight,  and 
at  worst  here  and  there  were  regions  where  the  lamp  of 
learning  was  kept  shining,  where  civilization  was  never 
quite  vanquished. 

It  cannot  be  too  often  repeated,  that  of  all  the  con- 
quests recorded  in  history,  the  one  that  has  had  the  most 
far-reaching,  the  most  permanent,  the  most  beneficent 
effects  on  the  subsequent  progress  of  humanity,  was  the 
conquest  of  the  Teutonic  invaders  of  the  Western  em- 
pire. That  conquest  was  the  peaceful  victory  of  Chris- 
tian missionaries,  whose  only  weapon  was  the  sword  of 
the  Spirit,  the  word  of  God. 


IV 
PATRICK :  THE  APOSTLE  TO  IRELAND 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

The  writings  of  Patrick  may  be  found  in  Migne's  Latin  Pa- 
trology,  Vol.  LIII,  col.  790,  seq.  An  English  translation  by 
Wright,  with  notes,  was  published  in  London,  1889.  The  docu- 
ments of  the  Book  of  Armagh  are  reprinted  in  the  Analecta 
Bollandiana,  Vol.  I,  p.  548,  Vol.  II,  p.  35  (Paris,  1882),  and 
by  Hogan  (Brussels,  1884).  These  documents  may  also  be  found 
in  Haddan  and  Stubbs'  Councils  and  Documents  Relating  to 
GreaJ  Britain,  Vol.  II,  pt.  II  (Oxford,  1873).  The  Tripartite 
Life  has  been  reprinted,  with  valuable  critical  notes  by  Stokes, 
in  the  Rolls  series  (two  vols.,  London,  1887).  The  best  biog- 
raphy was  until  lately  Todd's  St.  Patrick,  Apostle  of  Ireland 
(DubHn,  1864)  ;  it  also  contains  a  bibliography,  very  full  to 
the  date  of  publication.  This  and  all  other  biographies  have  been 
superseded  by  Professor  Bury's  Life  of  St.  Patrick  and  His 
Place  in  History  (London,  1905).  A  characteristic  Roman 
Catholic  biography  is  by  Miss  Cusack  (the  "  Nun  of  Kenmare," 
who  afterwards  became  a  Protestant),  but  it  should  perhaps  be 
called  a  religious  romance,  rather  than  a  biography.  It  contains  a 
translation  of  the  "  Tripartite  Life "  and  Patrick's  writings 
(London,  1870).  Nicholson,  St.  Patrick,  disproves  the  alleged  con- 
nection of  the  missionary  with  Rome,  and  gives  the  writings 
in  an  appendix  (Dublin,  1868).  Cathcart,  Ancient  British  and 
Irish  Churches,  also  gives  the  genuine  writings  in  an  English 
version  and  argues  that  Patrick  was  a  Baptist  (Philadelphia, 
1894).  See  also:  Stokes,  Ireland  and  the  Celtic  Church,  Lectures 
I-III  (London,  1892)  ;  Killen,  Ecclesiastical  History  of  Ireland, 
(two  vols.,  London,  1875)  ;  Killen,  Old  Catholic  Church,  pp.  303- 
437   (Edinburgh,  1871). 

On  Columba,  see  Colgan,  "Acta  Sanctorum  Veteris  Scotice 
seu  Hibernice"  (two  vols.,  Louvain,  1645-7);  Reeve,  "Vita  S. 
Columbce  Auctore  Adamano  "  (Dublin,  1857)  ;  an  English  ver- 
sion of  the  latter  appeared  in  the  Translations  and  Reprints  of  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania,  Vol.  II,  No.  7. 

On  Columbanus,  see  his  writings  in  Migne  Latin  Patrology, 
Vol.  XII ;  and  his  biography  in  Montalembert,  Monks  of  the  West, 
Vol.  II,  p.  447,  se-q.,  Butler,  Lives  of  the  Saints,  Vol.  XI,  p.  435, 
seq. 


IV 

PATRICK:    THE   APOSTLE   TO    IRELAND 

WHEN  Christianity  was  first  introduced  into  Britain 
is  a  matter  of  much  uncertainty.  There  is  a 
medieval  legend  that  the  gospel  was  brought  to  the  Brit- 
ish people  by  Joseph  of  Arimathea,  who  founded  the 
church  at  Glastonbury,  and  deposited  on  its  altar  the  Holy 
Grail  that  he  had  brought  with  him/  There  are  not  even 
any  definite  traditions  regarding  the  introduction  of  Chris- 
tianity into  Britain,  but  if  we  may  trust  Tertullian  it  was 
known  to  exist  there  about  the  year  200.  That  Father 
says  that  in  his  day  Christ  was  worshiped  among  the 
Moors,  the  Spaniards,  and  the  different  nations  of  the 
Gauls,  and  even  parts  of  Britain  inaccessible  to  the  Roman 
legions  were  subject  to  Christ.  A  little  later,  say  about 
the  year  239,  Origen  in  one  of  his  homilies  refers  to 
Christianity  in  Britain  as  a  well-known  thing.  The  Greek 
historian,  Sozomen,  who  wrote  about  the  year  300,  speaks 
of  churches  in  Britain,  and  from  this  time  on  we  find 
frequent  references  of  this  sort  in  Christian  literature. 

Nevertheless,  we  have  no  satisfactory  documentary  or 
archeological  proof  of  this  early  existence  of  British 
Christianity.  The  Venerable  Bede  tells  us  of  a  proto- 
martyr,  Alban,  who  perished  in  the  Diocletian  persecu- 
tion, but  this  cannot  be  reckoned  a  convincing  proof.  Our 
first  documentary  knowledge  is  not  earlier  than  the  synod 
of  Aries,  in  314.  Among  the  names  of  the  bishops  who 
signed  the  decrees  of  that  body  are  Eborius  of  York, 
Restitutus  of  London,  and  Adelfius  of  Caerleon-on-Usk. 

1  Baring  Gould,  "  Curious  Myths  of  the  Middle  Ages,"  Second  Series,  p. 
339,  seg. 

63 


64  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

The  presence  of  these  prelates  at  that  synod  of  course 
implies  a  somewhat  developed  state  of  the  Christian 
churches  of  Britain,  for  which  at  least  a  half -century 
would  be  required.  The  entrance  of  Christianity  in 
Britain  can  hardly  have  been  later  than  250. 

But  though  we  are  thus  left  mainly  to  conjecture  with 
regard  to  the  first  preaching  of  the  gospel  in  Britain,  we 
need  find  no  difficulty  in  believing  that  it  considerably 
antedated  the  conservative  date  above  given;  that  it  even 
antedated  any  of  the  references  to  it  that  we  find  in 
Christian  literature.  The  Roman  army  was  one  of  the 
evangelizing  agents,  and  not  the  least  effective,  of  the 
first  and  second  centuries.  Under  the  imperial  system, 
the  legions  of  Rome  were  permanently  located  in  the  sev- 
eral countries,  but  were  recruited  elsewhere,  so  that  the 
soldiers  never  served  among  their  own  people.  The  same 
system  is  said  to  prevail  to-day  in  the  Turkish  empire. 
It  is,  indeed,  almost  essential  to  the  maintenance  of  a  mili- 
tary despotism  that  its  soldiers  should  never  be  exposed 
to  the  risk  of  being  ordered  to  slaughter  their  own  coun- 
trymen. The  legions  in  Gaul  and  Britain  were  recruited 
from  the  East,  and  it  was  therefore  in  the  nature  of  things 
that  some  Christians  should  be  among  the  recruits,  and 
that  they  should  lose  no  opportunity  to  propagate  their 
faith.  It  is  probable  that  the  first  preaching  of  the  gospel 
in  Britain  was  due  to  Roman  soldiers  rather  than  to 
ostensible  Christian  missionaries. 

That  this  is  no  hazardous  conjecture,  let  a  well-estab- 
lished incident  of  later  Christian  history  testify.  Soon 
after  the  beginning  of  the  Wesleyan  reformation,  English 
soldiers  of  the  regular  army  were  converted.  These 
British  soldiers,  with  their  Methodist  principles,  were  sent 
to  garrison  some  of  our  American  towns  before  the  Revo- 
lution. Captain  Thomas  Webb,  one  of  these  converts, 
on  his  arrival  at  New  York,  joined  himself  to  a  few 


PATRICK  65 

Methodists  in  that  city,  aided  in  founding  the  first  Metho- 
dist society  in  America,  and  by  his  evangeUstic  zeal  made 
it  the  parent  of  that  religious  body  now  numerically  the 
greatest  among  the  religious  denominations  of  this  coun- 
try and  the  inferior  of  none  in  the  fervor,  enterprise,  and 
fidelity  of  its  members."  It  is  not  difficult  to  imagine  as 
having  taken  place  in  the  first  century  that  which  we  know 
occurred  in  the  eighteenth,  nor  is  it  likely  that  the  imme- 
diate disciples  of  the  apostles  had  less  religious  zeal  than 
the  disciples  of  John  Wesley. 

But  besides  this,  Roman  commerce  always  followed  in 
the  wake  of  the  Roman  armies.  Britain  was  then  as  now 
famed  for  its  mineral  wealth,  and  a  brisk  trade  in  metals 
sprang  up  immediately  after  the  Roman  occupation  of 
the  country.  This  would  almost  inevitably  carry  Chris- 
tianity in  its  train,  as  it  has  so  invariably  done  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  world.  And  therefore,  though  conjecture  is 
practically  our  sole  resource,  we  are  at  no  loss  to 
comprehend  the  certainly  early  preaching  of  the  gospel 
in  Britain. 

Christianity  was  slower  in  making  its  way  into  Ireland 
— Scotia  or  Hibernia,  the  Romans  called  it.  The  inhab- 
itants of  Britain  and  Ireland  at  that  time  were  members 
of  the  same  Keltic  race,  and  it  would  be  scarcely  possible 
that  the  Christian  religion  should  gain  a  firm  foothold  in 
Britain  without  making  some  adherents  in  Ireland.  In 
the  fourth  century  we  begin  to  find  evidence  that  at  least 
a  few  of  the  Irish  had  become  Christians.  Coelestius, 
the  disciple  and  friend  of  Pelagius,  was  by  all  accounts  of 
Irish  birth,  as  according  to  Jerome  Pelagius  himself  was ; 
and  in  their  controversies  with  Jerome  and  Augustine 
these  renowned  heretics  showed  many  of  the  character- 
istic traits  of  their  race.    The  fable  that  St.  Patrick  first 

*  Stevens,  "  History  of  Methodist  Church  in  America,"   i  :  5,  seq.   (four 
vols.,  New  York,   1884). 
E 


66  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

preached  the  gospel  in  Ireland  must,  therefore,  be  classed 
with  numerous  others  that  have  clustered  about  his  name, 
as  not  merely  without  historic  support,  but  contrary  to 
known  historic  fact. 

For  the  earlier  records  contradict  in  more  than  one 
instance  the  later  Patrick  myths,  and  particularly  in  this. 
Caspar  of  Aquitaine,  a  chronicler  of  the  fifth  century, 
says  that  Pope  Coelestine  consecrated  one  Palladius,  a 
priest  of  Gallic  extraction,  and  sent  him  on  a  mission  to 
Ireland  in  the  year  431.  The  story  is  no  doubt  true,  par- 
ticularly as  Caspar  goes  on  frankly  to  relate  the  failure  of 
the  missionary  enterprise.  Palladius,  it  seems,  was  ill 
received  by  the  Irish,  was  compelled  to  flee  from  the 
island,  and  died  soon  after.  But  though  not  the  first 
preacher  of  the  gospel  in  Ireland,  Patrick  may  be  confi- 
dently pronounced  the  greatest. 

The  so-called  biographies  of  this  remarkable  man  are 
somewhat  worse  than  useless.  The  oldest  was  composed 
nearly  or  quite  two  hundred  years  after  his  death,  and 
its  author  candidly  admits  that  the  facts  were  then  diffi- 
cult to  ascertain.  Considerable  of  the  miraculous  and 
mythical  is  found  even  in  this  biography,  and  from  that 
time  the  legends  increase  in  number  and  details  of  in- 
credibk  marvels.  There  is  but  one  resource — to  sweep 
all  these  "  biographies  "  into  the  dust-pile  together,  as  so 
much  worthless  rubbish.  In  a  few  cases,  perhaps,  the 
traditions  that  they  embody  are  worthy  of  provisional 
acceptation,  but  even  these  are  of  little  importance. 

There  are,  however,  still  extant  and  probably  genuine, 
two  documents  that  purport  to  have  been  written  by  Pat- 
rick himself.  Probably  genuine,  one  says,  because  they 
cannot  be  traced  farther  back  than  the  year  800,  the  date 
generally  assigned  to  the  oldest  manuscript  containing 
them,  the  famous  Book  of  Armagh,  one  of  the  chief  lit- 
erary treasures  of  the  University  of  Dublin.    The  external 


PATRICK  67 

evidence  of  the  authenticity  of  these  writings  is  therefore 
far  from  conclusive,  and  on  that  ground  some  scholars 
have  declared  them  to  be  spurious,  and  maintain  that  we 
have  absolutely  no  materials  for  a  life  of  Patrick.  It  has 
even  been  denied  that  there  ever  was  such  a  person,  while 
others  assert  that  there  were  three  or  four  of  him.  The 
majority  of  critics  hold,  however,  that  the  internal  evi- 
dence is  very  strongly  in  favor  of  the  authenticity  of  the 
documents. 

The  first  of  these  writings  is  the  so-called  "  Confes- 
sion," an  autobiographic  fragment,"  in  which  Patrick  tells 
briefly  the  story  of  his  life  and  labors.  There  is  no  rea- 
son, save  the  already  admitted  lack  of  full  external  evi- 
dence, to  question  that  the  document  is  precisely  what  it 
purports  to  be.  One  who  reads  it  without  prepossessions 
would  hardly  think  of  questioning  its  genuineness.  Hon- 
esty, simplicity,  truthfulness,  stand  out  in  every  line.  It 
is  impossible  to  think  of  any  adequate  motive  for  for- 
gery. The  *'  Confession  "  contains  none  of  those  ridicu- 
lous stories  of  miracles  and  wonders  that  disfigure  the 
later  writings  about  Patrick.  The  Latin  is  by  no  means 
Ciceronian,  and  the  rude  style  agrees  with  what  the 
author  says  of  his  lack  of  learning.  The  quotations  from 
Scripture  are  made  from  the  old  Latin  version,  prior  to 
Jerome's  recension — a  strong  point  in  favor  of  genuine- 
ness, indeed,  almost  decisive.  There  are  no  anachronisms 
or  inconsistencies  in  the  narrative.  In  short,  the  "  Con- 
fession "  is  precisely  such  a  document  as  it  ought  to  be, 
to  be  accepted  as  the  production  of  a  not  very  literate,  yet 
by  no  means  illiterate.  Christian  missionary  of  the  fifth 
century. 

The  other  document  is  known  as  the  "  Epistle  to  Coro- 
ticus,"  a  Welsh  prince,  who  had  repelled  an  Irish  inva- 

*The  English  translation  in  Doctor  Cathcart's  book  fills  about  sixteen 
closely  printed  octavo  pages,  and  contains  some  eight  thousand  words. 


68  CHRIS..:.::  lpoch-makers 

sion,  pursued  the  invaders  across  sea  and  committed  re- 
prisals.^ Though  a  professing  Christian,  Coroticus  had 
made  no  distinction  between  the  pagan  Irish  and  the  con- 
verts of  Patrick,  and  the  latter  writes  to  remonstrate  with 
the  prince  for  his  unchristian  conduct.  From  these  two 
writings  we  must  reconstruct,  as  best  we  may,  the  history 
of  Patrick's  labors.  The  materials  are  sparse,  yet  they 
supply  most  of  the  facts  we  need  to  know ;  and  the  rest 
may  be  conjectured,  with  occasional  help  from  later 
tradition,  with  a  reasonable  degree  of  certitude. 

As  we  might  naturally  expect,  considering  the  character 
of  our  sources,  exact  information  is  lacking  regarding 
both  the  place  and  the  time  of  Patrick's  birth.  The  gen- 
eral opinion  of  critics  inclines  toward  a  village  near  the 
present  town  of  Dumbarton,  Scotland,  as  the  place.  All 
that  we  are  entitled  to  say  positively  is  that  it  was  some- 
where in  the  Roman  colony  of  Britain.  Still  less  clue  do 
his  writings  give  us  as  to  the  time.  It  was  not  the  fashion 
of  that  age  to  be  exact  in  such  matters,  and  the  finding 
of  exact  dates  in  these  documents  would  cast  serious  dis- 
credit on  their  genuineness.  One  may  take  his  choice  of 
any  year  between  336  and  395  as  the  date  of  Patrick's 
birth,  and  find  himself  in  accord  with  some  biographer 
and  with  all  known  facts ;  at  least,  nobody  can  prove  him 
to  be  wrong.^ 

Of  Patrick's  family  we  know  rather  more.  He  be- 
longed to  the  nobility,  or  at  least  the  gentry,  of  his  coun- 
try. His  father  was  Calpurnius,  a  decurion,  or  member 
of  the  town  council,  which  it  was  the  Roman  custom  to 
establish   for  assistance  in  the  work  of  administration. 

^  This  may  also  be  found  in  Cathcart,  and  is  some  two  thousand  five 
hundred  words  in  length. 

2  It  is  worth  noting  that  Patrick  does  not  speak  of  himself  as  having 
been  baptized  in  infancy,  nor  make  any  allusion  to  the  baptism  of  infants 
in  his  writings.  Tradition  gives  him  several  names,  the  original  one  of 
Keltic  origin,  Succat.  The  name  Patricius  may  have  been  taken  at  the 
time  of  his  ordination. 


PATRICK  69 

These  local  assemblies  were  the  center  of  social  and 
municipal  life  in  the  colonial  towns.  They  instituted  and 
regulated  the  games,  managed  the  water  supply,  cared  for 
the  public  buildings,  levied  the  local  taxes,  supervised  the 
schools.  They  were  not  elected  by  the  people,  but  selected 
by  the  Roman  governor  or  his  deputy  from  the  principal 
men  of  the  place.  To  have  held  such  an  office  marks  out 
the  father  of  Patrick  as  a  man  of  substance,  of  excep- 
tional ability,  of  recognized  social  position,  as  well  as 
one  who  had  gained  the  favor  of  the  Roman  officials. 

Calpurnius  had  also,  probably  somewhat  later  in  life, 
taken  deacon's  orders  in  the  church.  His  father  had  been 
a  presbyter.  Patrick,  therefore,  as  son  of  a  deacon  and 
grandson  of  a  priest,  is  an  unimpeachable  witness  to  the 
fact  that  celibacy  was  not  obligatory  on  the  British  clergy 
of  the  fourth  century.  Calpurnius  was  also  a  farmer,  pos- 
sessing an  estate  outside  of  the  town.  This  combination 
of  public  offices — one  sacred,  one  secular — with  a  private 
pursuit,  is  another  significant  fact:  it  testifies  that  the 
British  clergy  of  this  period  were  not  yet  regarded  as  a 
sacerdotal  caste,  separate  from  the  laity,  and  as  such  de- 
barred from  secular  occupations,  as  the  laity  were  on  their 
part  debarred  from  sacred  offices. 

Though  the  inhabitants  of  Ireland  and  Scotland  were 
(and  are)  branches  of  the  same  Keltic  race,  they  were 
then  as  now  on  no  very  good  terms  with  each  other.  The 
dislike  that  now  finds  expression  in  political  antagonism, 
or  an  occasional  private  "  shindy,"  then  broke  out  fre- 
quently into  a  species  of  predatory  warfare  to  which  in 
these  days  we  should  give  an  ugly  name.  But  we  must 
remember  that  what  we  call  piracy,  the  people  of  the 
fourth  century  considered  a  laudable  method  of  settling 
old  scores,  with  some  incidental  enrichment  in  the  way 
of  captives  and  plunder.  In  one  of  these  incursions  of  the 
Irish  into  Scotland  the  estate  of  Calpurnius  was  attacked. 


yO  CHRISTIAN   EPOCH-MAKERS 

He  was  wounded,  and  Patrick  was  carried  off  a  captive. 
At  this  time  he  was  sixteen  years  of  age. 

Tradition  suppHes  some  details  just  here  that  are  inter- 
esting and  not  improbably  true.  He  was  taken  to  Antrim, 
and  his  captor  and  master  was  Milchu,  chief  of  Dalaradia, 
in  the  northeastern  part  of  Ireland.  There  is  a  place  in 
that  region  still  known  as  Ballyligpatrick,"  which  is  sup- 
posed to  be  the  site  of  his  residence  in  captivity.  What 
we  know  is  that,  like  the  prodigal  in  the  parable,  he  was 
sent  into  the  fields  to  feed  swine,  and  in  this  employment 
spent  seven  years. 

Up  to  this  misfortune,  though  the  son  of  Christian 
parents  and  presumably  having  a  Christian  nurture,  Pat- 
rick does  not  appear  to  have  been  particularly  religious, 
by  his  own  account;  rather  the  reverse.  He  speaks  with 
bitter  regret  of  his  early  sinfulness,  and  looks  upon  his 
captivity  as  a  judgment  of  God,  at  once  severe  and  mer- 
ciful. We  may  perhaps  take  with  some  grains  of  salt  his 
self-accusations  of  immorality.  John  Bunyan  speaks  of 
himself  in  like  manner,  yet  when  we  come  to  sift  his  state- 
ments his  most  heinous  sins,  apart  from  profanity,  seem 
to  have  consisted  in  dancing  about  May-poles,  bell-chim- 
ing, and  playing  tip-cat  on  the  village  green  of  a  Sunday 
— some  of  which  things  seem  to  us  by  no  means  repre- 
hensible, and  others  not  what  would  be  called  gross 
wickedness.  Deep  conviction  of  sin  does  not  necessarily 
imply  the  commission  of  vile  deeds. 

His  solitary  hours  in  the  fields  gave  the  youth  oppor- 
tunity for  much  meditation.  He  was  led  to  repent  of  his 
former  unbelief,  to  seek  the  mercy  of  God,  and  to  give 
himself  to  prayer ;  so  that,  to  give  his  own  words : 

I  should  be  converted  with  my  whole  heart  to  the  Lord  my 
God;  who  had  regard  for  my  humiliation,  and  compassioned  my 
youth  and  ignorance,  and  protected  me  before  I  knew  him,  and 

*  Bally,  town;    lig,  valley. 


PATRICK  71 

before  I  had  discretion,  or  could  distinguish  between  good  and 
evil,  and  shielded  me  and  soothed  me  as  a  father  does  a  son. 
Therefore  I  am  not  able  to  keep  silence,  nor  would  it  indeed 
be  proper,  about  so  great  benefits  and  so  great  grace  as  the 
Lord  was  pleased  to  grant  me  in  the  land  of  captivity. 

The  increasing  love  of  God  in  his  heart  led  him  to  give 
himself  more  and  more  to  prayer.  "  In  one  day,"  he  says, 
"  I  made  as  many  as  a  hundred  prayers,  and  in  the  night 
nearly  the  same  number."  The  result  followed  that  w^e 
might  expect  from  such  religious  fervor — he  began  to 
dream  dreams  and  see  visions.  In  one  of  these  his  deliv- 
erance from  captivity  was  foretold,  and  the  vision  was 
soon  realized.  He  escaped  to  the  seacoast,  found  there 
a  ship  about  to  sail  for  his  native  land,  as  his  visions  had 
warned  him ;  and  though  at  first  repulsed  by  the  crew,  he 
was  finally  taken  on  board  and  returned  to  his  parents, 
who  must  have  received  him  as  one  that  had  come  back 
to  them  from  the  dead.' 

When  he  had  thus  returned  home,  his  parents  besought 
him  earnestly  that  after  his  many  hardships  he  would 
never  depart  from  them.  Doubtless  he  would  have  been 
minded  to  comply  with  their  request  had  not  visions  called 
him  to  missionary  labors  among  the  people  of  whom  he 
had  been  the  slave.  One  of  these  visions,  which  deeply 
impressed  him,  he  relates  thus : 

And  there  I  saw,  indeed,  in  the  bosom  of  the  night,  a  man 
coming,  as  it  were,  from  Ireland,  whose  name  was  Victoricus, 
with  countless  letters,  one  of  which  he  gave  to  me;  and  I  read 
the  beginning  of  the  letter,  containing  "  The  Voice  of  the  Irish," 
and  whilst  I  read  aloud  the  beginning  of  the  letter,   I  myself 

*  The  Confession  also  informs  us,  obscurely,  that  after  many  years  Pat- 
rick was  again  taken  captive,  but  on  the  first  night  that  he  was  with  his 
captors,  he  had  a  vision  in  which  it  was  said  to  liim,  "  During  two  months 
thou  shalt  be  with  them";  and  he  adds  that  it  happened  accordingly.  No 
further  particulars  are  given  of  this  second  captivity  and  escape,  and  we 
do  not  know  whether  it  occurred  before  he  began  his  ministry  in  Ireland 
or    afterward. 


72  CHRISTIAN   EPOCH-MAKERS 

thought  indeed  in  my  mind  that  I  heard  the  voice  of  those  who 
.were  near  the  wood  of  Fochlut,  which  is  adjacent  to  the  West- 
ern sea.^  And  they  cried  out  as  with  one  voice,  "We  entreat 
thee,  holy  youth,  to  come  and  henceforth  walk  among  us."  And 
I  was  deeply  moved  in  heart  and  was  unable  to  read  further; 
and  so  I  awoke.  Thanks  be  to  God  that  after  very  many  years 
the  Lord  granted  to  them  according  to  their  cry.  And  on 
another  night,  whether  within  me  or  near  me  I  know  not,  God 
knows,  with  most  skilful  words  which  I  heard  but  could  not  un- 
derstand, except  at  the  conclusion  of  the  speech,  he  thus  spoke, 
"  He  who  gave  his  life  for  thee,  he  himself  it  is  who  speaks  in 
thee";  and  so  I  awoke  rejoicing. 

What  reason  or  obstacles  withheld  Patrick  for  so  many 
years  from  the  work  to  which  he  felt  himself  called  he 
does  not  explicitly  inform  us.  At  one  obstacle  he  indeed 
hints — the  opposition  of  his  seniors,  who  doubted  the 
genuineness  of  his  call  and  objected  to  his  character. 
They  urged  against  him,  so  he  tells  us,  some  sin  that  he 
had  committed  in  his  youth,  before  he  had  become  a 
deacon.  This  seems  to  us  a  trivial  objection;  the  real 
reason  may  have  been  Patrick's  lack  of  clerical  education 
and  experience.  But  the  divine  call  was  plain  to  him,  and 
doubtless  others  became  convinced  of  it  in  time,  though 
even  up  to  the  writing  of  the  "  Confession  "  there  were 
those  who  doubted. 

The  traditions  embodied  in  the  earlier  lives  attempt  to 
fill  up  in  part  this  gap  in  our  knowledge.  The  least  un- 
trustworthy of  these  is  to  the  effect  that  Patrick  attempted 
to  remedy  his  defects  by  crossing  over  to  Gaul  and  study- 
ing there.  Here,  it  is  said,  he  spent  a  long  time,  thirty 
years  or  more,  and  was  at  length  consecrated  missionary 
bishop  by  Germanus,  bishop  of  Auxerre,  who  had  been 
his  preceptor.    This  story  is  not  improbable.^    It  accounts 

»This  familiarity  with  western  Ireland  indicates  that  part  of  his 
captivity  had  been  spent  in  Connaught. 

'  But,  in  spite  of  this  tradition,  Neander  inclines  toward  Britain  as  the 
more  probable  place  of  Patrick's  consecration.  "  Church  History,"  Vol.  II, 
p.   148,  note. 


PATRICK  73 

for  the  long  interval  between  Patrick's  call  and  his  engag- 
ing in  his  missionary  labors ;  and  also  for  that  predilection 
in  favor  of  the  monastic  life  that  we  observe  in  his  writ- 
ings, which  he  could  not  have  gained  in  Britain  in  his 
time,  but  might  have  acquired  by  a  long  residence  in  Gaul, 
where  monachism  was  already  well  established. 

Not  even  in  the  early  traditions,  however,  still  less  in 
the  genuine  writings  of  Patrick,  do  we  find  the  story  of 
later  times, ^  that  he  was  commissioned  missionary  to  Ire- 
land by  Pope  Coelestine  in  432.  The  documents  and  well- 
established  facts  are  totally  irreconcilable  with  this  pal- 
pable invention.  The  *'  Confession  "  is  an  apology ;  the 
writer  is  justifying  himself  for  becoming  a  missionary  to 
Ireland,  in  spite  of  what  others  esteemed  his  disqualifica- 
tions, some  of  which  he  frankly  admits.  What  would 
have  been  easier  or  more  conclusive  than  for  him  to  have 
rejoined  to  his  critics  that  he  had  a  commission  from  the 
pope?  Could  he  possibly  have  neglected  such  an  argu- 
ment, had  it  been  available?  As  matter  of  fact  he  justi- 
fies himself  on  two  grounds:  first,  that  he  had  a  divine 
call  to  labor ;  and  second,  that  the  divine  blessing  had  been 
bestowed  on  his  labors.  But  not  one  word  of  approval 
by  pope  or  other  ecclesiastical  authority  does  he  utter. 

There  is,  of  course,  another  and  possibly  more  conclu- 
sive objection  to  this  fable  of  a  papal  commission  than 
Patrick's  silence  about  it;  it  is  a  complete  anachronism. 
It  reads  too  much  subsequent  history  into  the  fifth  cen- 
tury. Bishops  of  Rome  at  this  time  neither  claimed  nor 
attempted  to  exercise  such  authority  as  the  story  implies. 
For  "  Pope  "  Coelestine  to  commission  Palladius,  who  was 
known  to  him  and  in  much  closer  proximity,  was  one 
thing;  for  Patrick  to  seek  Coelestine's  approval  is  quite 
another.    No  such  idea  of  Rome's  supremacy  obtained  in 

^  This  story  of  a  papal  commission  of  Patrick  cannot  be  traced  back 
further  than  the  latter  half  of  the  ninth  century. 


74  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

Britain  then  or  later,  until  long  after  the  mission  of 
Augustine.  Columba  and  Columban  neither  sought  nor 
had  papal  authority  for  their  missions. 

The  genuine  documents  supply  few  details  regarding 
Patrick's  missionary  labors,  when  he  had  entered  on  his 
great  work.  All  that  we  can  certainly  gather  is  that  they 
were  abundantly  blessed,  and  that  the  number  of  converts 
must  have  been  large,  since  he  speaks  of  baptizing  thou- 
sands. His  statements  are  vague  and  general,  like  the 
following :  "  Whence  is  it  then  that  in  Ireland  they  who 
have  never  had  any  knowledge  of  God,  and  until  now 
have  always  worshiped  only  idols  and  unclean  things — 
how  is  it  that  they  have  lately  become  the  people  of  the 
Lord  and  are  called  the  sons  of  God  ?  Sons  of  the  Scots  ' 
and  daughters  of  chieftains  are  seen  to  be  monks  and 
virgins  of  Christ."  Elsewhere  he  speaks  of  one  "  blessed 
Irish  lady,  of  noble  birth,  very  beautiful,  an  adult,"  whom 
he  baptized,  coming  to  him  after  a  few  days  and  saying 
that  she  had  a  divine  call  to  be  a  virgin  of  Christ.  Tradi- 
tion has  given  to  this  lady  the  name  of  Saint  Bridget,  but 
Patrick  does  not  name  her,  and  this  is  the  only  personal 
incident  of  his  work  that  he  mentions. 

The  traditions  give  no  end  of  details  about  these  mis- 
sionary labors,  most  of  them  evidently  mythical.  There 
may  be  a  modicum  of  truth  in  the  general  facts — that 
Patrick  began  his  work  at  the  town  of  Wicklow,  near  the 
present  city  of  Dublin,  and  that  after  a  time  he  proceeded 
to  Tara,  the  ancient  residence  of  the  Irish  kings,  and 
there  preached  with  great  success.  The  story  of  his  illus- 
trating the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  at  Tara  by  the  use  of 
the  shamrock  is  a  comparatively  late  myth,  not  being 
found  in  any  writer  before  the  seventeenth  century  and 
quite  unknown  to  the  medieval  biographers.     The  tradi- 

^  Until  the  eleventh  century,  Scotia  and  Scoti  mean  Ireland  and  Irish  in 
all  documents  written  in  the  medieval  Latin. 


PATRICK  75 

tion  about  his  preaching  at  Tara  has  this  rational  basis : 
that  Patrick,  being  well  acquainted  with  the  peculiar  tribal 
organization  of  the  Irish,  would  seek  to  win  their  chiefs, 
knowing  that  the  conversion  of  the  people  would  follow 
almost  as  a  matter  of  course.  We  can,  however,  only  be 
sure  of  the  one  great  fact  (but  that  is  quite  sufficient)  : 
that  Patrick  preached  Christ,  amid  privations  and  dan- 
gers, to  the  Irish  people,  and  that  many  of  them  received^ 
his  message  as  glad  tidings. 

How  long  his  ministry  lasted  the  "  Confession  "  natu- 
rally gives  slight  hints,  if  any.  He  was  well  on  in  years 
before  his  work  began,  but  while  there  is  nothing  incredi- 
ble in  the  tradition  that  he  died  at  the  age  of  one  hundred 
and  twenty  it  is  too  evidently  an  attempt  to  make  his  case 
parallel  with  that  of  JMoses  to  be  worthy  of  any  credit. 
His  death  must  have  occurred  before  the  year  500,  not 
improbably  by  475.  According  to  an  ancient  tradition, 
going  back  to  the  year  700,  his  remains  were  deposited 
on  the  site  of  the  present  cathedral  of  Downpatrick. 

All  but  the  main  facts  regarding  this  evangelizing  of 
Ireland,  therefore,  must  necessarily  remain  nebulous  and 
uncertain.  But  when  we  turn  from  such  questions  as, 
When  and  where  and  how  long  did  Patrick  preach?  to 
the  query.  What  sort  of  a  gospel  did  he  preach  ?  we  find 
our  materials  comparatively  abundant.  In  the  beginning 
of  his  "  Confession  "  he  gives  us  his  creed,  identical  in 
substance  with  that  of  Nice,  with  some  variations  that 
are  in  the  direction  of  greater  scripturalness,  as  in  attrib- 
uting the  creation  of  all  things,  visible  and  invisible,  to  the 
Son,  not  to  the  Father.  It  also  indicates,  in  connection 
with  his  account  of  his  own  religious  experience,  that  he 
believed  in  the  necessity  of  a  radical  change  of  heart, 
through  the  operation  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  as  a  result  of 
faith  in  Christ. 

We  are,  accordingly,  not  surprised  to  discover  from  the 


^6  CHRISTIAN   EPOCH-MAKERS 

documents  that  Patrick  baptized  believers  only.  In  one 
case,  as  we  have  seen,  he  describes  a  noble  lady  whom  he 
had  baptized  as  an  '*  adult."  Again  he  writes :  ''  So  that 
even  after  my  death  I  may  leave  as  legacies  to  my  breth- 
ren, and  to  my  sons  whom  I  have  baptized  in  the  Lord,  so 
many  thousand  men."  Not  only  is  there  no  mention  of 
"  infants  "  or  "  children,"  but  uniformly  the  missionary 
speaks  of  "  men,"  "  handmaidens  of  Christ,"  "  women," 
*'  baptized  believers,"  and  the  like.  It  is  most  improbable 
that  he  should  not  have  mentioned  children  had  any 
been  baptized  by  him,  for  though  his  language  is  not 
boastful,  he  is  speaking  of  the  greatness  of  God's  bless- 
ing upon  his  work,  and  that  would  have  been  an  item  by 
no  means  likely  to  be  omitted  from  the  enumeration.  The 
argument  from  silence,  never  conclusive  in  itself,  is 
sometimes  most  convincing  in  connection  with  other 
proofs. 

Accounts  of  Patrick's  labors,  written  several  centuries 
after  his  death,  represent  him  as  baptizing  his  converts  in 
fountains,  wells,  and  streams.  This  is  in  accordance  with 
all  that  we  know  of  the  act  of  baptism  in  the  fourth  and 
fifth  centuries,  immersion  being  the  universal  form  prac- 
tised. It  is  probable,  though  by  no  means  certain,  that 
trine  immersion  was  practised  in  Britain,  as  elsewhere 
during  this  period.  This  is,  however,  conjecture,  as 
Patrick's  writings  throw  no  light  on  this  matter. 

In  some  particulars  it  is  clear  the  Church  of  Britain 
in  his  day  had  departed  less  widely  from  apostolic  prac- 
tice than  the  Church  in  Gaul,  and  compared  with  the 
Church  of  Rome,  it  was  still  pure.  Three  orders  in  the 
ministry  are  clearly  recognized  in  the  "  Confession,"  so 
that  the  beginnings  of  a  hierarchy  were  certainly  there. 
But  the  British  bishops  are  still  congregational,  not  dioc- 
esan. Even  as  late  as  St.  Bernard's  time  there  remained 
what  he  thought  a  scandalous  laxity  in  Irish  ecclesiastical 


PATRICK  'J'J 

affairs,  where,  he  complained,  "  almost  every  church  has 
its  separate  bishop." 

Vv^e  also  see  becoming  established  in  his  day,  and  largely 
through  his  influence,  that  tendency  to  monachism  which 
had  in  later  centuries  consequences  so  momentous  and  so 
deplorable.  Monks  and  nuns  were  numerous  and  already 
they  were  highly  esteemed  as  persons  of  special  piety.  In 
many  cases,  if  not  in  all,  they  were  justly  esteemed;  the 
system  could  never  have  made  progress  had  it  been  handi- 
capped at  the  beginning  with  knaves  and  hypocrites.  Not 
yet  had  it  developed  into  orders,  with  their  abbeys  and 
monasteries ;  all  thus  far  accomplished  was  that  men  and 
women  voluntarily  entered  on  the  celibate  life,  and  gave 
themselves  to  much  fasting  and  prayer,  though  not  wholly 
withdrawing  themselves  from  the  world,  in  the  firm  belief 
that  this  was  the  life  most  acceptable  to  God  and  most 
conducive  to  piety.  Patrick  was  himself  a  celibate,  and 
he  praises  the  celibates  as  examples  of  rare  piety.  It  was 
not  much  after  his  day,  however,  that  monastic  institutions 
and  orders  became  firmly  established  in  both  Britain  and 
Ireland. 

The  British  Church  never  became  Romanized,  and  the 
Romanizing  of  the  Irish  Church  proceeded  but  slowly. 
Perhaps  it  is  not  altogether  fanciful  to  find  a  reason  for 
this  fact  in  the  honor  paid  to  the  study  of  the  Scriptures, 
in  accordance  with  the  example  of  Patrick.  Brief  as  his 
writings  are,  there  are  no  fewer  than  one  hundred  and 
thirteen  passages  of  Scripture  quoted  or  clearly  referred 
to.  Nowhere  does  the  writer  appeal  to  the  authority  of 
tradition,  of  church,  of  council,  still  less  of  pope,  but 
always  to  the  written  word.  This  is  to  his  mind  the  end 
of  all  controversy.  Not  until  centuries  after  do  we  find 
in  Ireland  acceptance  of  the  doctrines  of  purgatory,  invo- 
cation of  saints,  worship  of  the  Virgin,  and  submission 
to  the  pope's  authority. 


78  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

Not  only  was  heathen  Ireland  thus  evangelized,  but  that 
evangelized  Ireland  soon  became  an  evangelizer.  In  521, 
probably  not  more  than  fifty  years  after  Patrick's  death, 
Columba  was  born  in  Donegal.  He  belonged  to  the  royal 
family  of  Ireland,  and  by  this  date  the  practice  of  infant 
baptism  was  established  in  that  country,  for  he  was  chris- 
tened in  the  church  of  Temple  Douglas.  He  was  educated 
in  the  monastic  school  of  Clonard,  celebrated  in  that  day, 
and  became  a  member  of  the  monastery.  His  life  in  Ire- 
land was  not  especially  saintly,  and  we  find  him  bearing 
an  active  part  in  the  conflicts  of  the  tribesmen.  He  nar- 
rowly escaped  excommunication  for  his  complicity  in  a 
massacre  of  the  times,  and  some  authorities  assert  that 
he  was  actually  excommunicated  by  an  Irish  synod  as  a 
man  of  blood. 

This  seems,  at  any  rate,  to  have  been  a  turning-point 
in  his  life.  He  devoted  himself  more  strictly  to  his  relig- 
ious duties,  and  about  the  year  563  he  sailed  with  some 
companions  to  the  island  of  lona,  where  he  built  a  mon- 
astery and  attempted  the  conversion  of  the  pagans  of- 
northern  Scotland,  the  Picts.  The  monastic  life  of  that 
time  did  not  consist  exclusively,  or  even  chiefly,  of  medi- 
tation and  penitential  exercises;  the  monastery  was  a 
Christian  community,  planted  in  the  midst  of  a  heathen 
people,  showing  them  what  Christianity  was  in  practice, 
and  being  a  center  for  evangelistic  and  missionary  effort. 
The  companions  of  Columba,  said  to  have  numbered  some 
two  hundred,  gave  themselves  with  all  the  enthusiasm  of 
the  Keltic  character  to  this  work  of  evangelism,  and  with 
great  success.  King  Brude  was  converted  in  565,  and 
most  of  his  tribesmen  followed  his  example,  and  made  at 
least  a  formal  profession  of  belief  in  Christ. 

Columban,  another  Irish  missionary,  was  bom  some 
twenty  years  later,  in  the  year  543.  While  Columba  gave 
his  life  to  the  conversion  of  the  Picts,  Columban  preached 


PATRICK  79 

the  gospel  among  the  pagans  of  central  Europe,  especially 
in  Burgundy.  He  was  educated  in  a  monastery  on  one 
of  the  islands  of  Lough  Erne,  and  about  the  year  585  felt 
himself  called  to  become  a  missionary,  being  doubtless 
strongly  influenced  by  the  example  and  the  successful 
labors  of  Columba.  Together  with  twelve  companions 
he  crossed  to  Britain  and  thence  to  Gaul,  which  was  even 
then  in  a  state  but  one  remove  from  barbarism.  Political 
chaos  prevailed,  since  the  invasion  of  the  Roman  colony 
by  the  pagan  Franks  and  other  Teutonic  tribes,  and  the 
bonds  that  ordinarily  hold  society  together  were  dissolved. 
A  form  of  Christianity  prevailed  among  the  Burgundians, 
but  it  was  corrupt  to  the  last  degree.  Columban  estab- 
lished monasteries  in  different  parts  of  France,  and  later 
in  Switzerland  and  northern  Italy ;  and  wherever  he  went 
his  influence  was  strong  towards  the  purification  of 
morals  among  those  already  professing  the  Christian 
faith,  while  many  hitherto  pagan  were  converted  under  his 
labors. 

It  is  not  necessary  or  expedient  to  go  further  into  de- 
tails concerning  the  work  of  these  and  other  similar  mis- 
sionaries. Enough  has  been  said  to  make  clear  this  fact : 
in  the  sixth  century  Ireland  was  the  chief  center  of  mis- 
sionary effort  in  Europe.  And  the  existence  in  that 
remote  island  of  this  strong  missionary  sentiment,  this 
strange  activity  in  evangelization,  is  wholly  due  to  the 
previous  labors  of  Patrick. 

The  character  of  Patrick  shines  out  unmistakably 
through  the  mists  of  fable  with  which  the  centuries  have 
beclouded  it.  In  his  writings  we  discover  that  perfer- 
vidum  ingeniiim  Scotorum,  that  fiery  Irish  temperament, 
which  still  distinguishes  his  race.  His  Is  an  ardent  soul 
that  no  danger  can  daunt,  no  hardship  dishearten ;  a  soul 
aflame  with  love  to  the  Lord,  who  had  so  wonderfully 
called  him  to  be  the  preacher  of  liberty  through  the  gospel 


80  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

to  his  former  captors.  The  Church  of  Rome  has  per- 
petrated many  audacious  thefts,  from 

The  statue  of  Jupiter,  now  made  to  pass 
For  that  of  Jew  Peter  by  good  Romish  brass, 

to  the  theft  of  Peter  himself,  easily  the  most  audacious 
of  all.  But  not  even  this  supreme  dishonesty  is  quite  so 
bare-faced,  and  certainly  no  other  larceny  has  so  openly 
set  at  defiance  every  known  fact,  or  so  completely  falsi- 
fied the  testimony  of  a  life,  as  when  Rome  placed  Patrick 
in  her  calendar  of  saints  and  claimed  him  as  the  obedient 
servant  of  the  pope ! 

In  truth,  hardly  any  character  in  Christian  history  has 
suffered  so  greatly  from  legend-makers  and  legend- 
mongers  as  the  apostle  to  Ireland.  His  name  and  labors 
have  been  surrounded  with  such  a  mass  of  conscious  and 
unconscious  inventions,  so  much  has  been  imputed  to  him 
that  is  not  merely  unfounded  but  demonstrably  false,  that 
it  is  no  small  labor  to  clear  away  this  rubbish  and  find 
beneath  it  all  a  figure  and  character  that  are  genuine. 
When,  however,  the  labor  has  been  performed,  we  may 
well  spare  the  halo  of  saintship  in  gratitude  for  the  dis- 
covery of  a  man ! 


V 


AUGUSTINE: 
CHRISTIANITY  IN   ANGLE-LAND 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

The  one  primary  source  of  knowledge  concerning  Augustine's 
work  is  the  letters  of  Gregory  the  Great,  in  Migne's  Latin  Pa- 
trology,  Vol.  LXXVII,  pp.  441-1460.  A  good  secondary  source 
is  Bede's  Ecclesiastical  History  of  England,  Book  I,  chaps. 
XXIII-XXXII,  most  accessible  in  its  English  version  in  the 
Bohn  series,  but  to  be  found  also  in  Migne,  Vol.  XCV.  Th€se 
documents  are  reprinted,  with  translation  and  critical  notes,  in. 
Mason's  Mission  of  St.  Augustine  to  England  According  to  the 
Original  Documents  (Cambridge,  1897).  Another  excellent  mon- 
ograph is  Bassenge,  Sendiing  Augustins  sur  Bekehrung  der 
Anglosachsen  (Leipzig,  1890).  A  more  popular  treatise  is  Mac- 
lear  on  "  The  English "  in  The  Conversion  of  the  West  series, 
published  by  the  S.  P.  C.  K.  Interesting  accounts  of  the  con- 
version of  England  may  be  found  in  Bright,  Chapters  of  Early 
English  Church  History,  chap.  II-IV  (Oxford,  1897)  ;  Stanley, 
Memorials  of  Canterbury,  chap.  I  (tenth  ed.,  London,  1883)  ; 
Montalembert,  Monks  of  the  West,  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  317-458  (Edin- 
burgh, 1867)  ;  Milman,  History  of  Latin  Christianity,  Vol.  II,  pp. 
175-200  (Riverside  ed.)  ;  Neander,  History  of  Christianity,  Vol. 
Ill,  pp.  11-18.  Perhaps  the  fullest  biographical  sketch  is  in  Hook's 
Lives  of  the  Archbishops  of  Canterbury,  Vol.  I  (London,  i860). 
A  briefer,  but  excellent  account,  is  in  Smith  and  Wace's 
Dictionary  of  Christian  Biography. 


AUGUSTINE:    CHRISTIANITY   IN    ANGLE-LAND 

THE  overrunning  of  the  Roman  empire  of  the  West 
was  only  one  episode,  and  hardly  the  most  impor- 
tant, in  the  great  movement  of  the  Teutonic  tribes  into 
Europe.  There  were  other  conquests  of  which  historians 
generally  say  less  that  were  quite  as  far-reaching  in  their 
effects.  Indeed,  probably  the  most  important  feature  of 
the  great  westward  movement  of  the  Teutons  was  not  the 
conquest  of  the  empire,  but  their  permanent  occupation 
of  that  region  of  northern  Europe  which  lies  between  the 
Rhine  and  the  Danube  and  extends  to  the  Arctic  zone. 
And  while  those  tribes  that  settled  within  the  limits  of  the 
empire  were  soon,  to  a  considerable  degree,  both  Chris- 
tianized and  civilized,  those  that  occupied  this  northern 
region  remained  heathen  and  barbarian. 

From  this  general  Teutonic  conquest,  Britain  was  for 
several  centuries  exempt.  It  owed  its  exemption  rather 
to  its  isolation  and  to  the  ignorance  of  the  Teutons  than 
to  the  ability  of  its  Keltic  people  to  maintain  themselves 
against  their  foes.  When  the  Western  empire  was  tot- 
tering to  its  fall,  at  the  beginning  of  the  fifth  century, 
the  Roman  legions  were  necessarily  withdrawn  from 
Britain,  and  those  Romans  that  remained  became  thor- 
oughly incorporated  with  the  people.  Roman  occupation 
had  produced  in  those  islands  the  effect  that  might  have 
been  expected,  by  paralyzing  whatever  capacity  for  self- 
government  and  self-defense  the  ancient  British  people 
had  possessed.  With  the  departure  of  the  legions  they 
became  an  easy  prey. 

83 


84  CHRISTIAN   EPOCH-MAKERS 

At  almost  the  precise  time  of  their  losing  Roman  pro- 
tection, their  formidable  Teutonic  foes  began  an  attack. 
The  tribes  that  then  inhabited  Scandinavia  and  the  sea- 
coast  of  what  we  now  call  Holland  or  north  Germany, 
soon  became  the  most  daring  mariners  of  their  age.  Rem- 
nants of  their  ships  have  been  recently  discovered.  One 
of  these  is  seventy-seven  feet  long,  has  nearly  seventeen 
feet  beam,  and  a  depth  of  about  six  feet.  Drawing  but 
four  feet  of  water,  and  impelled  by  thirty-two  oars  each 
twenty  feet  long,  this  was  a  strong  and  swift  vessel, 
stanch  enough  to  weather  even  the  severe  storms  of  the 
North  seas.  In  such  ships,  well  filled  with  men  and 
stocked  with  provisions,  these  Teutonic  voyagers  spent 
months  at  a  time  in  their  explorations,  going  as  far  South 
as  the  Mediterranean,  penetrating  northward  to  Iceland 
and  Greenland,  and  even  sailing  westward  to  our  own 
New  England  coast.  They  were  not  only  sailors,  discov- 
erers, adventurers,  but  colonizers,  and  in  nearly  every 
country  that  they  visited  they  planted  a  colony. 

The  tribes  then  inhabiting  the  Low  countries  were  pos- 
sibly less  fierce  and  enterprising  than  the  Northmen,  but 
they  seem  to  have  been  earlier  in  the  field.  As  their  popu- 
lation increased  they  made  piratical  excursions  in  many 
directions,  and  they  were  not  long  in  discovering  the  fer- 
tility and  richness  of  Britain.  Beginning  with  occasional 
incursions  upon  this  land,  they  gradually  advanced  to  the 
project  of  making  permanent  settlements  in  it,  and  about 
the  middle  of  the  fifth  century  this  process  began. 

Three  tribes  of  continental  Teutons  were  chiefly  prom- 
inent in  this  new  conquest  of  Britain:  the  Jutes,  the 
Saxons,  and  the  Angles.  The  Jutes  were  the  first  to  make 
a  permanent  lodgment  in  what  is  now  Kent,  and  also  the 
region  about  the  Isle  of  Wight.  The  Saxons  followed, 
taking  possession  of  the  southern  counties  of  England, 
while  the  Angles  subsequently  occupied  the  northern  and 


AUGUSTINE  85 

eastern  counties.  These  tribes  belonged  to  the  Low  Dutch 
branch  of  the  great  Teutonic  family.  Their  language  is 
not  to  be  regarded  as  a  dialect  or  corruption  of  the  High 
Dutch,  or  German,  but  points  them  out  as  an  independent 
and  coequal  branch  of  the  Teutons.  This  separation  of 
language  probably  antedated  the  Teutonic  occupation  of 
Europe,  and  some  scholars  hold  that  the  Low  Dutch  are 
the  more  ancient  of  the  two  peoples.  However  this  may 
be,  our  closest  linguistic  and  race  affinities,  as  an  English- 
speaking  nation,  are  still  with  the  inhabitants  of  Holland. 

It  is  not  part  of  our  present  purpose  to  follow  the 
details  of  this  Teutonic  settlement  in  England,  but  two 
features  of  it  are  of  importance  to  our  study.  In  the  first 
place,  the  Teutonic  conquest  of  Britain  differed  from  the 
other  Teutonic  conquests  in  that  it  was  a  gradual  process 
extending  over  a  century  and  a  half  or  two  centuries — 
from  zi49  to  597,  if  we  adopt  the  traditional  dates  as  suffi- 
ciently accurate  for  our  purpose.  This  conquest  was  not 
accomplished  by  a  concerted  action  of  the  tribes,  but  was 
the  result  of  a  series  of  predatory  incursions  that  resolved 
themselves  into  permanent  occupations.  A  leader  among 
the  continental  tribes  would  organize  an  expedition,  as- 
semble fifty  or  a  hundred  men,  sail  for  the  coast  of  Brit- 
ain, land  where  chance  or  caprice  led,  and  there  they 
would  establish  themselves.  By  a  succession  of  such 
incursions,  these  Teutons  gradually  occupied  nearly  all 
of  that  part  of  Britain  afterward  known  as  England. 

In  consequence  of  this  method,  the  conquest  came  to 
differ  materially  from  the  Teutonic  occupation  of  other 
parts  of  Europe.  The  irruption  of  the  Goths  and  other 
tribes  into  the  Western  empire  was  comparatively  sud- 
den and  overwhelming,  but  its  permanent  results  were 
less  serious.  The  Goths  and  Vandals  did  not  displace 
the  population  of  the  empire;  they  settled  in  the  con- 
quered  provinces   and   became   gradually  assimilated   to 


86  CHRISTIAN   EPOCH-MAKERS 

the  population — producing  in  turn,  of  course,  a  consider- 
able modification  of  that  population.  The  conquerors 
gradually  adopted  in  large  part  the  language,  laws,  and 
customs  of  the  Romans.  The  ultimate  result  of  their 
conquest  was  an  amalgam,  in  which  Roman  civilization 
was  the  chief  visible  component,  while  nearly  everything 
distinctly  Teutonic  had  disappeared  from  view. 

The  people  of  Britain,  on  the  other  hand,  retired  before 
the  invaders  and  the  Teutonic  tribes  therefore  simply 
replaced  them  in  the  occupation  of  the  soil.  The  British 
race,  the  British  language,  the  British  religion  disap- 
peared, and  southern  Britain  became  Angle-land,  or 
England.  The  surviving  remnants  of  the  British  race 
were  crowded  into  Wales  and  Scotland,  where  they  pre- 
served their  language  and  institutions  practically  un- 
changed. England  thus  wholly  ceased  to  be  Keltic  and 
became  purely  Teutonic.  There  is  hardly  another  instance 
in  the  history  of  European  conquests  where  the  conquer- 
ors have  so  completely  replaced  the  conquered  and  have 
remained  in  their  new  home  precisely  what  they  were 
before  their  conquest.' 

When  we  say  that  Britain  became  Teutonic,  of  course 
we  include  religion,  for  no  part  of  a  country's  institu- 
tions is  more  vitally  a  part  of  it  than  religion.  And  this 
brings  us  to  the  second  important  feature  of  this  con- 
quest. The  Britons  were  Christians.  The  ancient  Keltic 
heathenism  had  quite  disappeared  as  a  cult;  and,  though 
doubtless  many  of  its  customs  had  been  incorporated  with 
the  Christian  religion  as  there  professed  and  practised, 
the  old  idolatry  and  its  rites  had  outwardly  perished. 

*  The  Norman  Conquest  of  England  was  entirely  different  from  the 
Saxon  occupation.  It  was  sudden,  not  gradual,  it  did  not  displace  the 
population,  and  in  spite  of  it  England  continued  to  be  substantially  Saxon, 
though  undergoing  considerable  modification.  The  nearest  analogue  to  the 
Saxon  occupation  of  England  with  which  we  are  familiar  is  the  settlement 
of  America  by  the  European  nations,  and  the  driving  of  the  red  men 
Westward. 


AUGUSTINE  87 

Britain  was  as  truly  Christian  at  the  beginning  of  the  fifth 
century  as  any  part  of  the  empire.  Moreover,  through 
the  Roman  influence  the  islands  had  become  quite  highly 
civilized.  The  arts  of  peace  were  cultivated  with  more 
success  than  the  arts  of  war,  and  the  refinement  of  the 
people  had  become  more  marked  than  their  vigor.  Ad- 
vance in  civilization  that  is  an  evolution,  a  natural  process 
of  upward  development  in  a  people,  does  not  imply  any 
necessary  degeneration  of  stock  or  the  loss  of  manly  vir- 
tues. Civilization  that  is  borrowed  from  other  nations, 
especially  borrowed  by  a  conquered  people  from  their 
conquerors,  is  almost  invariably  accompanied  by  a  weak- 
ening of  physical  vigor  and  moral  fiber. 

The  Teutonic  invaders  of  Britain  were  of  surpassing 
vigor  of  body  and  mind.  If  they  were  barbarians,  they 
were  at  least  unspoiled  by  the  vices  of  civilization.  Above 
all,  let  us  remember,  they  were  heathen.  They  worshiped 
with  ardor  those  divinities  whose  exploits  are  embalmed 
in  the  sagas  of  the  Northmen,  whose  names  are  still  com- 
memorated in  our  common  names  for  the  days  of  the 
week."  It  would  have  been  too  much  to  expect  of  human 
nature  that  the  British  survivors  of  this  conquest  in  Wales 
and  Scotland  should  have  attempted  to  send  mission- 
aries among  their  conquerors,  or  that  the  latter  would 
have  listened  to  them  had  they  done  so.  Mutual  con- 
tempt and  hatred  long  prevailed  between  the  two  races; 
and,  while  Christianity  never  wholly  perished  in  Wales 
and  Scotland,  it  completely  vanished  from  Angle-land. 
When  we  say  that  the  Christian  religion  disappeared,  it 
is  no  figure  of  speech.  The  Christian  priests  were  ruth- 
lessly slain,  the  churches  were  either  destroyed  or  fell 
into  decay,  and  for  a  time  at  least,  the  invasion  partook 

*  For  example,  Tuesday — ^Tiw's  day;  Tiw  was  the  equivalent  of  the 
Greek  Zeus.  Wednesday  is  Woden's  day;  Thursday,  Thor's  day;  Friday, 
Frigga's  day,  and  Frigga  is  the  Teutonic  Venus. 


88  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

of  the  character  of  a  destroying  scourge.  There  was  as 
Httle  trace  of  British  Christianity  as  there  was  of  British 
law  and  language.  The  England  of  the  Angles  and 
Saxons,  while  it  had  gained  a  marked  reinforcement  of 
vigor,  of  capacity  for  self-government  and  progress,  had 
relapsed  into  a  state  but  one  remove  from  savagery. 

Such  was  the  condition  of  England  toward  the  close 
of  the  sixth  century,  when  the  Teutonic  conquests  had 
become  measurably  complete,  and  the  scattered  "  king- 
doms "  were  about  ready  to  unite  under  one  head.  It  was 
at  this  time  that  the  project  of  preaching  the  gospel  anew 
to  the  inhabitants  of  the  island  was  first  considered. 
There  seems  to  be  no  question  that  the  man  to  whom  this 
idea  first  occurred  was  a  simple  monk  of  St.  Andrew, 
who  a  few  years  later  became  bishop  of  Rome,  and  is 
generally  known  as  Pope  Gregory  the  Great.  The  Ven- 
erable Bede  tells,  in  a  well-known  story,  how  Gregory 
came  to  cherish  this  plan : 

It  is  reported  that  some  merchants,  having  just  arrived  at 
Rome  on  a  certain  day,  exposed  many  things  for  sale  in  the 
market-place,  and  abundance  of  people  resorted  thither  to  buy. 
Gregory  himself  went  with  the  rest;  and  among  other  things, 
some  boys  were  set  to  sale,  their  bodies  white,  their  countenances 
beautiful,  and  their  hair  very  fine.  Having  viewed  them,  he 
asked,  as  is  said,  from  what  country  or  nation  they  were  brought, 
and  was  told,  from  the  island  of  Britain,  whose  inhabitants  were 
of  such  personal  appearance.  He  again  inquired  whether  these 
islanders  were  Christians,  or  still  involved  in  the  errors  of  pa- 
ganism, and  was  informed  that  they  were  pagans.  Then  fetch- 
ing a  deep  sigh  from  the  bottom  of  his  heart,  "  Alas !  what  pity," 
said  he,  "that  the  author  of  darkness  is  possessed  of  men  of 
such  fair  countenances ;  and  that  being  remarkable  for  such  grace- 
ful aspects,  their  minds  should  be  void  of  inward  grace."  He 
therefore  again  asked,  what  was  the  name  of  that  nation?  and 
was  answered  that  they  were  called  Angles.  "Right,"  said  he, 
"  for  they  have  an  angelic  face,  and  it  becomes  such  to  be  co- 
heirs with  the  angels  in  heaven.     What  is  the  name,"  proceeded 


AUGUSTINE  89 

he,  "of  the  province  from  which  they  are  brought?"  It  was 
replied  that  the  natives  of  that  province  were  called  Deiri. 
"  Truly  are  they  De  ira,"  said  he,  "  withdrawn  from  wrath  and 
called  to  the  mercy  of  Christ.  How  is  the  king  of  that  province 
called?"  They  told  him  his  name  was  Aella;  and  he  alluding 
to  the  name,  said,  "  Allelujah,  the  praise  of  God  the  Creator  must 
be  sung  in  those  parts." 

Then  repairing  to  the  bishop  of  the  Roman  apostolical  see  (for 
he  was  not  himself  then  made  pope),  he  entreated  him  to  send 
some  ministers  of  the  word  into  Britain,  to  the  nation  of  the 
English,  by  whom  it  might  be  converted  to  Christ;  declaring 
himself  ready  to  undertake  that  work,  by  the  assistance  of  God, 
if  the  apostolic  pope  should  think  fit  to  have  it  so  done.  Which 
not  being  then  able  to  perform,  because  though  the  pope  was 
willing  to  grant  his  request,  yet  the  citizens  of  Rome  could  not 
be  brought  to  consent  that  so  noble,  so  renowned,  and  so  learned 
a  man  should  depart  the  city;  as  soon  as  he  was  himself  made 
pope,  he  perfected  the  long-desired  work,  sending  other  preach- 
ers, but  himself  by  his  prayers  and  exhortations  assisting  the 
preaching,  that  it  might  be  successful. 

There  is  no  good  reason  to  question  the  substantial 
truth  of  this  anecdote.  Some  such  incident,  we  may 
believe,  prompted  the  interest  in  the  evangelization  of 
Britain  that  Gregory  certainly  shov^ed  as  pope,  and  had 
probably  had  in  his  heart  before  he  was  advanced  to  the 
highest  dignity  in  the  Church  of  Rome.  He  had  no  sooner 
become  pope  than  he  began  to  devise  practical  means  for 
carrying  out  his  project,  and  in  the  fourth  year  of  his 
pontificate  the  work  was  actually  undertaken. 

The  man  chosen  as  leader  of  this  enterprise  was  one 
of  his  own  pupils  in  the  Benedictine  monastery  of  St. 
Andrew.  This  was  Augustine,  by  no  means  to  be  con- 
founded with  the  earlier  and  more  celebrated  Augustine 
of  Hippo.  Toward  the  close  of  the  sixth  century,  Augus- 
tine and  a  company  of  monks  (who  by  some  are  said  to 
have  numbered  forty)  were  sent  by  Gregory  to  England 
by  way  of  Gaul.     The  Gallic  bishops  were  expected  to 


90  CHRISTIAN   EPOCH-MAKERS 

give  them  aid  and  forward  them  on  their  journey,  which 
they  did. 

Landing  on  the  coast  of  Kent  in  the  year  597,  they  were 
favorably  received  by  Ethelbert,  the  king  of  that  region, 
and  the  most  pofwerful  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  *'  kings  "  of 
his  day.  Contrary  to  the  usual  custom  of  his  people,  he 
had  married  a  wife  from  the  Franks,  named  Bertha,  who 
was  a  Christian ;  and  it  was  probably  due  to  her  influence 
that  Augustine  and  his  companions  were  so  favorably 
received.  The  king  came  to  meet  the  missionaries  in  the 
open  air,  thinking  them  to  be  wizards,  and  supposing  that 
their  spells  would  be  less  potent  out  of  doors.  Augustine 
preached  the  gospel  to  him  and  his  people,  and  the  king 
was  so  far  impressed  as  to  say: 

Your  words  and  promises  sound  very  good  to  me;  but  they 
are  new  and  strange,  and  I  cannot  believe  them  all  at  once,  nor 
can  I  leave  all  that  I  and  my  fathers  and  the  whole  English  folk 
have  believed  so  long.  But  I  see  that  ye  have  come  from  a  far 
country  to  tell  us  what  ye  yourselves  hold  for  truth;  so  ye  may 
stay  in  the  land,  and  I  will  give  you  a  house  to  dwell  in  and 
food  to  eat;  and  ye  may  preach  to  my  folk,  and  if  any  man  of 
them  will  believe  as  ye  believe,  I  hinder  him  not. 

The  heralds  of  the  new  religion  were  given  a  residence 
in  the  royal  city  of  Canterbury,  and  allowed  full  liberty 
to  preach  to  the  people.  Before  long  many  were  con- 
verted and  baptized,  including  King  Ethelbert  himself; 
and  it  is  said  that  before  the  first  year  had  closed  more 
than  ten  thousand  had  been  added  to  the  church.  After 
the  king's  baptism,  permission  was  given  to  rebuild  and 
repair  the  ancient  British  churches,  which  had  been  more 
or  less  completely  destroyed  by  the  conquerors,  and  soon 
the  new  believers  were  provided  with  places  of  worship. 

Up  to  this  time  Augustine  had  been  a  simple  priest. 
He  now  recrossed  to  France  and  was  consecrated  bishop 
at  the  city  of  Aries.    Returning,  he  rebuilt  with  the  king's 


AUGUSTINE  91 

assistance  the  church  at  Canterbury,  and  with  Gregory's 
approval  was  consecrated  first  archbishop  of  England. 
Not  many  years  after  (604)  he  died  at  Canterbury,  and 
already  considerable  advance  had  been  made  in  the  con- 
version of  England.  The  kingdom  of  Kent  was  prac- 
tically Christian,  and  some  progress  had  been  made  in 
the  neighboring  kingdoms  of  Essex,  Wessex,  and  Sussex. 
The  work  did  not  go  on,  however,  without  many  difficul- 
ties, discouragements,  and  temporary  defeats.  The  suc- 
cessor of  Ethelbert  restored  the  old  idolatry  as  the  official 
religion  of  Kent,  and  in  Essex  the  missionaries  of  the 
Christian  faith  had  a  similar  experience.  But  the  prog- 
ress of  the  gospel  was  sure,  and  in  a  single  generation 
southern  England  was  nominally  made  Christian. 

About  625  the  gospel  found  entrance  among  the  Angles, 
in  the  northern  part  of  England.  The  preacher  was  Paul- 
linus,  and  the  manner  of  the  conversion  of  the  Angles  is 
thus  told : 

Then  Edwin  said,  "  I  am  going  forth  to  battle  against  Cwichelm, 
king  of  the  West  Saxons,  who  hath  sought  to  slay  me  by  craft. 
If  I  return  in  peace,  then  will  I  believe  in  thy  God  and  wor- 
ship him."  .  .  .  Now  king  Edwin's  wound  was  healed,  and  he  went 
forth  to  battle  against  the  West  Saxons,  and  smote  them  with  a 
great  slaughter,  and  slew  five  of  their  kings.  So  Edwin  came 
back  in  peace  to  his  own  land.  And  he  no  more  served  Woden 
and  Thunder  and  the  other  gods  of  his  fathers.  .  . 

Then  King  Edwin  sent  forth  and  gathered  together  his  alder- 
men and  his  thanes  and  all  his  wise  men,  and  they  took  counsel 
together.  And  men  said  to  one  another,  "What  is  this  new  law 
whereof  men  speak?  Shall  we  leave  the  gods  of  our  fathers  and 
serve  the  God  of  Paullinus,  or  shall  we  forbear?"  And  one 
spake  on  this  manner  and  another  spake  on  that  manner.  Then 
arose  Coifi,  the  high  priest  of  Woden,  and  said :  "  Tell  us,  O  king, 
what  this  new  law  is;  for  this  one  thing  I  know,  that  these 
gods  whom  we  have  so  long  worshiped  profit  a  man  not  at  all. 
For  a  truth,  there  is  no  man  in  thy  land  who  hath  served  all 
our  gods  more  truly  than  I  have,  yet  there  be  many  men  who 
are  richer  and  greater  than  I,  and  to  whom  thou,  O  king,  showest 


92  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

more  favor.  Wherefore  I  trow  that  our  gods  have  no  might  nor 
power,  for  if  they  had  they  would  have  made  me  greater  and 
richer  than  all  other  men.  Therefore  let  us  hearken  to  what 
these  men  say,  and  learn  what  their  law  is ;  and  if  we  find  it  to 
be  better  than  our  own,  let  us  serve  their  God  and  worship  him." 

Then  another  of  the  king's  thanes  arose  and  said,  "  Truly  the 
life  of  man  in  this  world,  compared  with  that  life  whereof  we 
wot  not,  is  on  this  wise.  It  is  as  when  thou,  O  king,  art  sitting 
at  supper  with  thine  aldermen  and  thy  thanes  in  the  time  of 
winter,  when  the  hearth  is  lighted  in  the  midst  and  the  hall  is 
warm,  but  without  the  rains  and  the  snow  are  falling  and  the 
winds  are  howling.  Then  cometh  a  sparrow  and  flieth  through 
the  house;  she  cometh  in  by  one  door  and  goeth  out  by  another. 
Whiles  she  is  in  the  house  she  feeleth  not  the  storm  of  winter, 
but  yet  when  a  little  moment  of  rest  is  passed,  she  flieth  again 
into  the  storm  and  passeth  away  from  our  eyes.  So  it  is  with  the 
life  of  man;  it  is  but  for  a  moment;  what  goeth  afore  it  and 
what  cometh  after  it,  wot  we  not  at  all.  Wherefore,  if  these 
strangers  can  tell  us  aught,  that  we  may  know  whence  man 
cometh  and  whither  he  goeth,  let  us  hearken  to  them  and  follow 
their  law." 

So  he  spake,  and  the  more  part  of  the  king's  thanes  and  wise 
men  said  that  he  had  well  spoken.  Then  arose  Coifi,  the  priest, 
the  second  time  and  spake,  saying :  **  Let  us  even  now  hear  Paul- 
linus,  and  let  him  tell  us  what  his  new  doctrine  is."  Then  King 
Edwin  commanded  that  so  it  should  be;  and  Paullinus  preached 
the  gospel  unto  them.  Then  spake  Coifi  again :  "  Truly  I  have 
long  known  that  those  things  which  we  were  wont  to  worship 
were  naught;  for  the  more  I  sought  for  truth  in  worshiping 
them,  the  less  I  found  it.  But  now  say  I  openly  that  in  that 
which  this  man  preacheth  I  see  plainly  the  truth  which  can  give 
us  the  gift  of  health  and  happiness  everlasting.  Therefore,  O 
king,  my  counsel  is  that  we  do  at  once  root  up  and  burn  down 
these  temples  and  altars  that  we  have  hallowed,  and  yet  have  got 
no  good  thereby." 

Then  King  Edwin  spake  and  said  that  he  would  henceforth 
worship  the  God  of  Paullinus,  and  none  other.  And  he  said: 
"Who  will  be  the  first  to  throw  down  the  altar  and  the  temple 
of  our  false  gods,  and  the  hedge  that  is  round  about  them?" 
Then  said  Coifi :  "  I  will.  For  who  rather  than  I  shall  throw 
down  that  before  which  I  have  worshiped  in  my  folly,  now  that 
God   hath   given   me   wisdom   thereunto?     Wherefore,   O   king, 


AUGUSTINE  93 

give  me  a  horse  and  weapons  withal,  that  I  may  ride  to  the 
temple  of  the  false  gods  and  throw  down  the  same."  Now 
it  was  the  law  of  the  Angles  that  a  priest  might  not  wear 
weapons,  nor  might  he  ride  except  on  a  mare.  So  Coili  girded 
him  with  a  sword,  and  took  a  spear  in  his  hand;  and  he  rode 
on  the  king's  own  horse  to  the  place  where  was  the  temple  of 
idols.  Now  it  was  at  a  place  that  is  called  Godmundingham, 
which  lieth  to  the  east  of  the  royal  city  of  Eoforwic  (which 
men  for  shortness  now  call  York),  beyond  the  river  of  Derwent. 
And  when  men  saw  Coifi,  the  priest,  wearing  weapons  and  rid- 
ing on  the  king's  horse,  they  said,  "  Of  a  truth  Coifi,  the  priest, 
is  mad."  But  when  he  drew  near  to  the  temple  he  hurled  his 
spear  at  it,  and  bade  his  fellows  break  down  the  temple  and 
burn  it  with  the  hedge  that  was  round  about  it.  Thus  King  Ed- 
win believed,  with  all  his  thanes  and  wise  men  and  the  more  part 
of  all  the  folk  of  Northumberland. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  we  know  so  little  of  Augus- 
tine, that  no  anecdotes  like  that  just  related  have  been 
preserved  concerning  him  and  his  labors.  His  personality 
remains  rather  hazy  and  uncertain,  after  we  have  ex- 
hausted all  available  means  of  information.  If  we  knew 
more  of  him  and  his  work,  there  would  perhaps  be  fewer 
judgments  pronounced  like  that  of  Doctor  Schaff,  who 
says :  "  His  talents  and  character  did  not  rise  above  medi- 
ocrity, and  he  bears  no  comparison  whatever  with  his 
great  namesake,  the  theologian  and  bishop  of  Hippo ;  but 
he  was,  upon  the  whole,  well  fitted  for  his  missionary 
work,  and  his  permanent  success  lends  to  his  name  the 
halo  of  a  borrowed  greatness."  Even  on  the  basis  of  our 
present  knowledge  this  is  a  judgment  more  severe  than 
just. 

Augustine  of  Canterbury  left  no  writings,  and  probably 
was  incapable  of  becoming  a  great  man  of  letters  or  a 
great  theologian.  Those  who  are  gifted  for  speculation 
and  literary  accomplishment  are  too  prone  to  look  down 
upon  men  who  have  not  the  same  gifts,  but  may  possess 
endowments  even  rarer  and  of  quite  as  much  value  to  the 


94  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

world.  To  be  a  man  of  affairs,  to  have  the  gift  of  lead- 
ership, is  a  quality  quite  as  much  to  be  coveted  by  a 
preacher  of  Christ's  gospel  as  any  other.  It  would  be 
easy  to  find  ten  good  preachers,  and  ten  more  who  could 
w;rite  a  good  book,  for  every  one  who  can  deal  success- 
fully with  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men,  and  manage 
well  the  complex  affairs  of  a  large  parish.  Twenty  men 
fail  in  the  ministry  to-day  for  lack  of  talent  for  affairs 
where  one  fails  because  he  cannot  preach.  A  very  mod- 
erate amount  of  pulpit  power,  joined  to  skill  in  affairs, 
will  make  a  very  successful  pastorate;  while  eminent 
preaching  ability  is  little  valued  by  most  communities  if 
accompanied  by  absolute  unfitness  for  affairs,  as  it  often 
is.  If  we  test  Augustine  of  Canterbury  by  Napoleon's 
maxim,  "  What  has  he  done  ?  "  he  will  not  compare  so 
unfavorably  with  Augustine  of  Hippo.  To  convert  a 
nation  is  no  smaller  work  than  to  write  "  The  City  of 
God." 

Within  a  century  after  the  landing  of  Augustine,  all 
England  had  become  nominally  Christian.  Of  course  he 
did  not  accomplish  this  feat  single-handed,  but  as  the 
leader  and  director  of  the  enterprise  he  deserves  to  the 
full  the  credit  for  its  success.  Unquestionably,  as  in  many 
other  cases  of  the  rapid  conversion  of  heathen  tribes,  the 
change  in  England  was  more  nominal  than  real,  and  the 
resulting  religion  was  a  curious  mixture  of  Teutonic 
paganism  and  Christian  practice.  This  need  not  blind  us 
to  the  substantial  worth  of  what  was  accomplished.  The 
worship  of  the  heathen  divinities  ceased.  Christian 
morals  were  taught,  and  to  some  degree  were  practised. 
A  great  change  came  over  England  in  the  sixth  and  sev- 
enth centuries  as  a  result  of  this  preaching  of  Chris- 
tianity. When  we  reflect  that  our  ancestors  were  once 
barbarian  and  heathen,  when  we  look  at  Christian  Eng- 
land and  Christian  America  to-day,  both  of  which  are 


AUGUSTINE  95 

what  they  are  because  of  the  missionary  enterprise  of 
Gregory  and  Augustine,  let  us  never  belittle  the  worth 
of  foreign  missions  or  despair  of  the  future  of  any  race 
that  accepts  the  gospel  of  Christ. 

The  reconversion  of  England  has  an  important  bear- 
ing on  English  Christianity  of  our  own  day.  The  theory 
of  an  Anglican  Church  that  has  had  an  uninterrupted  his- 
tory from  the  days  of  the  apostles  until  our  own,  is  very 
dear  to  some  English  and  American  churchmen.  Accord- 
ing to  that  view,  the  pope  was  never  anything  else  than  a 
usurper  in  England,  and  the  Reformation  was  simply  a 
return  to  the  liberty  that  the  English  Church  had  always 
enjoyed  until,  somewhere  about  the  twelfth  century,  the 
bishop  of  Rome  succeeded  in  asserting  over  that  nation 
an  authority  he  had  never  before  possessed  and  to  which 
he  had  no  right. 

This  Anglican  theory  is  very  pretty,  very  comforting 
to  those  who  can  believe  it,  but  it  is  utterly  without  foun- 
dation in  historic  fact.  It  is  worse  than  that:  it  defies 
historic  fact.  An  eminent  theological  teacher  once  re- 
marked that  he  would  like  to  fill  the  chair  of  church  his- 
tory, if  only  he  might  teach  history  as  it  ought  to  have 
been.  One  sympathizes  with  this  feeling,  yet  it  is  one's 
duty  to  teach  history  as  it  was.  Doubtless  history  ought 
to  have  been  in  accordance  with  these  theories  of  High- 
church  Anglicans,  but  doubtless  it  has  not  been  in 
accordance  with  them. 

No  country  in  Europe  has  a  church  whose  connection 
with  Rome  is  so  close  and  continuous  from  the  fifth  cen- 
tury to  the  sixteenth  as  is  the  Church  of  England'?.  Eng- 
land was  reclaimed  from  heathenism  by  the  mission  of 
Augustine,  who  was  sent  out  by  the  express  act  and 
authority  of  the  bishop  of  Rome.  Through  all  his  life 
he  deferred  to  Gregory  as  his  superior.  He  was  conse- 
crated first  archbishop  of  England  by  Gregory's  authority, 


96  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

and  received  from  the  Roman  bishop  the  pallium  that  was 
the  symbol  of  his  primacy  in  England.  Every  successor 
of  Augustine  until  the  time  of  Cranmer,  and  including 
that  shifty  divine,  sought  and  obtained  from  Gregory's 
successors  in  the  Roman  See  the  same  symbol  of  spiritual 
authority.  If  the  primate  of  England  thus  always  ac- 
knowledged the  superior  authority  of  the  pope,  what 
becomes  of  the  figment  of  an  independent  national 
church  ? 

The  Church  of  England  is  the  descendant  of  the  Saxon, 
not  of  the  British  Church.  It  is  true  that  the  remnants 
of  the  ancient  British  Church  were  finally  absorbed  into 
the  Church  of  England,  but  this  was  a  long  process,  and 
affected  only  the  surviving  fragments  of  British  Chris- 
tianity in  England  and  Wales.  The  churches  of  Scotland 
and  Ireland  always  preserved  their  independence.  Augus- 
tine had  been  given  rights  of  primacy  by  Gregory,  which 
extended  in  theory  over  all  Great  Britain,  but  he  was 
unable  to  enforce  his  nominal  authority.  Several  unsuc- 
cessful attempts  were  made  by  him  to  secure  the  alle- 
giance of  the  British  bishops,  and  these  were  renewed  in 
later  years  by  his  successors.  A  conference  at  Whitby, 
in  664,  was  partially  successful  in  assimilating  the  usages 
of  the  British  churches  to  those  of  Roman  origin,  but  it 
was  not  until  the  time  of  Theodore  (archbishop  of  Can- 
terbury from  669-690)  that  uniformity  was  established 
throughout  England,  and  the  authority  of  the  primate 
became  a  recognized  fact. 

This  reconversion  of  England  was,  of  course,  an  epoch- 
making  event  in  the  history  of  that  nation.  Not  only  did 
the  English  people  cease  to  be  heathen,  they  also  ceased 
to  be  barbarians  and  were  brought  into  touch  again  with 
the  civilized  world.  England,  which  had  been  isolated 
from  Europe  by  the  Teutonic  conquest,  was  readmitted 
to  the  family  of  nations.    But  it  was  also  a  turning-point 


AUGUSTINE  97 

in  the  history  of  European  Christianity.  The  mission 
of  Augustine  marks  the  beginning  of  that  advance  north- 
ward by  the  Christian  church,  which  is  the  most  striking 
fact  in  the  history  of  mankind  from  the  sixth  century  to 
the  tenth,  and  is  perhaps  the  most  extensive  missionary 
enterprise  in  the  history  of  Christianity.  Augustine's 
mission  may,  indeed,  be  described  as  the  first  exclusively 
foreign  mission.  The  conversion  of  the  Goths  and  related 
tribes  was  more  nearly  a  work  of  domestic  missions,  for 
they  were  a  part  of  the  empire's  population.  And  the 
importance  of  the  English  mission  consists  largely  in  the 
fact  that  Christian  England  became  the  base  of  further 
missionary  operations,  which  resulted  in  the  conversion 
of  Germany  and  Scandinavia,  as  an  almost  necessary 
result. 

This  great  missionary  epoch,  and  the  conquest  of 
northern  Europe  by  the  Christian  church,  was  due  in 
the  main  to  the  genius  of  one  man.  We  have  already 
noted  the  prominence  of  Gregory  in  the  mission  to  Eng- 
land ;  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  this  was  only  part  of 
a  great  plan  for  the  evangelizing  of  all  Europe,  and  the 
conception  and  partial  execution  of  this  plan  distinguish 
Gregory  as  one  of  the  greatest  men  in  the  history  of  the 
church.  The  scion  of  an  ancient  patrician  house  of 
Rome,  bred  for  the  profession  of  the  law,  when  a  young 
man  he  entered  the  church  and  became  a  monk.  In  an 
age  when  scholarship  had  not  yet  become  a  mere  tradi- 
tion, he  was  famous  for  his  learning ;  in  a  church  already, 
notorious  for  its  corruption  he  was  eminent  for  his  piety 
and  the  purity  of  his  life.  Decision  of  character,  vigor 
of  administration,  marked  his  pontificate,  the  chief  sig- 
nificance of  which  is  the  great  part  that  he  played  in  the 
building  up  of  the  papacy. 

The  pontificate  of  Gregory  occurred  at  a  time  when 
the  popes  were  coming  to  be  independent  of  the  emperors 

G 


98  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

in  Constantinople.  But  the  sphere  of  their  authority  was 
limited,  and  there  was  no  prospect  of  extending  it  east- 
ward. A  great  field  for  advancement  of  power  existed 
in  the  North,  and  on  this  opportunity  Gregory  seized  with 
the  insight  of  a  man  of  genius  and  the  skill  of  a  man  of 
affairs.  We  need  not  question  the  genuineness  of  his 
interest  in  the  spiritual  welfare  of  these  heathen  people, 
if  we  also  discover  in  his  policy  a  shrewd  understanding 
that  the  conversion  of  these  heathen  to  Christianity  meant 
a  great  extension  of  the  power  and  prestige  of  the  Roman 
Church,  as  well  as  the  greater  glory  of  God.  Gregory 
so  impressed  his  policy  upon  the  church  that  his  suc- 
cessors for  three  centuries  continued  it.  Under  them, 
indeed,  continuance  became  all  the  more  necessary  be- 
cause of  the  rapid  advances  of  Mohammedanism,  by 
whose  conquests  Africa  was  lost  to  the  church,  it  would 
seem  forever,  and  Spain  for  several  centuries. 

So  successful  was  this  policy,  that  by  the  tenth  century 
all  Europe  had  ceased  to  be  pagan,  if  it  had  not  become 
really  Christian.  This  great  conquest  had  momentous 
consequences  upon  the  history  of  Europe,  and  the  prog- 
ress of  Christian  civilization.  It  was  the  preserver  of 
the  church  by  thus  building  up  the  Christian  nations  of 
the  North  to  become  the  bulwark  against  the  advance  of 
Mohammedanism.  The  defeat  (732)  at  Tours  by 
Charles  Martel  of  the  Moorish  host  advancing  under 
Abderrahman  for  the  conquest  of  France,  as  they  had 
already  conquered  Spain,  checked  the  first  wave  of 
Mohammedan  advance  and  gave  Europe  breathing-space. 
But  by  the  eleventh  century  another  Mohammedan  ad- 
vance had  begun,  and  the  fall  of  the  Eastern  empire  and 
the  overturning  of  the  West  was  seriously  threatened. 
The  capture  of  Constantinople  at  that  time  would  have 
meant  the  inundation  of  Europe  by  the  Saracens  and  the 
complete   substitution  of   Islam   for  Christianity.     This 


AUGUSTINE  99 

would  have  been  an  irreparable  disaster,  not  only  for 
Europe,  but  for  the  entire  world.  The  permanence  of 
Christianity,  the  hope  of  civilization,  were  bound  up  with 
this  enterprise  of  Gregory  and  Augustine. 

Civilization  and  Christianity  were  saved,  because  the 
result  of  this  missionary  policy  was  the  growth  of  Chris- 
tian nations  that  were  able  to  repel  the  Mohammedan  in- 
vaders. The  Crusades  were  supported  by  the  valor  and 
wealth  of  those  peoples  who  had  been  made  Christian 
through  Gregory's  successful  policy  of  evangelization. 
And  though  the  Crusades  failed  in  their  ostensible  aim 
of  recovering  the  Holy  Sepulcher  and  the  expulsion  of 
the  Saracens  from  the  Holy  Land,  they  accomplished 
something  of  far  greater  importance:  they  checked  the 
advance  of  Mohammedanism,  and  prolonged  the  life  of 
the  Roman  empire  several  centuries.  And  when  at  last 
Constantinople  fell,  Europe  had  become  strong  enough  to 
say  to  the  Turk,  ''  Thus  far,  but  no  further."  All  this 
and  much  more  was  the  result  of  the  mission  of 
Augustine. 

When  we  thus  trace  the  significance  of  events,  when 
we  catch  in  some  degree  the  vast  sweep  of  God's  plans, 
how  wonderful  does  his  providence  become!  He  makes 
even  the  wrath  of  man  praise  him.  Surely  his  judgments 
are  unspeakable,  and  his  ways  past  finding  out !  But  his 
goodness  and  mercy  to  the  children  of  men  do  not  shine 
out  more  clearly  from  the  pages  of  his  written  word,  than 
from  that  revelation  which  he  has  inscribed  for  us  to 
read,  if  we  will,  in  the  progress  of  mankind.  What  study 
more  fascinating,  more  instructive,  more  inspiring,  than 
the  study  of  history  ?  And  in  the  study  of  history,  what 
surpasses  in  fruit  fulness  the  study  of  Christian  missions? 


VI 
BONIFACE:    GERMANY    EVANGELIZED 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

The  sources  for  the  life  of  Boniface  are  his  letters,  edited  by 
Diimmler  in  Pertz,  Monumenta  Germanics  Hist.,  Epistolco, 
Vol.  Ill  pp.  215-433;  his  sermons,  in  Martene  and  Diirand, 
Amplissima  Collectio,  Vol.  IX;  and  the  biography  by  his  con- 
temporary and  friend,  Willibald,  also  in  Pertz,  Scriptores, 
Vol.  II,  pp.  S3,  seq.  This  last  may  also  be  had  in  a  critical  edition, 
in  Nurnberger's  Vita  S.  Bonifacii  (Breslau,  1895).  All  these 
materials,  and  some  others  of  doubtful  authenticity,  are  reprinted 
in  Migne,  Vol.  LXXXIX,  p.  597,  seq.  The  best  modern  biography 
is  Werner's  Bonifacius,  der  Apostel  der  Deutschen  (Leipzig, 
1875).  Less  satisfactory  are  biographies  by  Cox  (London,  1853) 
and  Hope  (London,  1872).  All  histories  of  the  Christian  church 
and  of  Christian  missions  devote  more  or  less  space  to  the  work 
of  Boniface.  Always  scholarly  is  Neander,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  46,  seq.; 
more  modern  and  thorough  is  Hauck,  Kirchengeschichte 
Deutschlands,  who  gives  nearly  one  hundred  and  fifty  pages  of 
his  first  volume  to  a  study  of  Boniface  and  his  contemporaries 
(Leipzig,  1898).  More  popular  works  are:  Baring-Gould,  The 
Church  in  Germany,  chap.  V;  "The  Work  of  S.  Boniface"  (New 
York,  1891)  ;  Barnes,  Two  Thousand  Years  of  Missions  Before 
Carey,  pp.  302-307  (Chicago,  1900)  ;  Merivale,  Conversion  of  the 
West — the  Continental  Teutons,  chap.  VII  (London,  S.  P. 
C.  K.)  ;  Maclear,  History  of  Christian  Missions  During  the 
Middle  Ages,  chap.  IX  (London,  1863)  ;  Trench,  Medieval 
Church  History,  Lecture  V  (New  York,  1878). 


VI 

BONIFACE  :  GERMANY  EVANGELIZED 

FROM  the  seventh  century  to  the  ninth,  Ireland  was 
the  center  of  evangehc  and  missionary  enterprises, 
but  the  church  founded  by  Augustine  in  England  was 
not  far  behind.  The  same  restless  spirit  of  adventure 
that  had  led  the  Angles  and  Saxons  to  leave  their  con- 
tinental homes  and  settle  in  Britain,  influenced  the  relig- 
ion of  the  English;  and  perhaps  it  was  this  spirit,  quite 
as  much  as  zeal  for  the  cause  of  Christ,  that  made  them 
chief  among  the  enterprising  missionaries  of  this  period. 

Though  England  had  now  been  in  a  measure  Chris- 
tianized, it  did  not  for  some  centuries  rise  to  the  same 
level  of  learning  and  piety  that  obtained  in  other  parts 
of  Europe,  and  especially  in  Ireland.  The  monasteries 
of  that  country  had  a  high  repute  in  the  seventh  cen- 
tury, not  only  for  sanctity  but  for  learning.  Many  young 
Englishmen  who  desired  a  better  training  than  they 
could  obtain  at  home,  went  to  the  Irish  monasteries  to 
get  it.  Not  a  few  such  men  imbibed  also  the  missionary 
spirit  that  sent  Columba  afar  among  the  Picts,  and  Col- 
umban  as  far  to  the  Burgundians,  as  missionaries  of  the 
gospel.  Among  these  were  a  monk  named  Wigbert  and 
a  presbyter  called  Willibrord.  These  men,  while  studying 
in  Ireland,  resolved  to  devote  themselves  to  the  service  of 
God  in  some  foreign  land,  and  they  naturally  chose  as 
the  object  of  their  missionary  efforts  men  closely  related 
to  them  in  blood  and  language.  Accordingly,  they  became 
preachers  of  the  truth  in  Friesland. 

Willibrord  did  not  enter  on  this  work  until,  in  692,  he 

103 


104  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

had  paid  a  visit  to  Rome  and  obtained  the  approval  of 
the  pope.  His  labors  were  begun  in  Prankish  Friesland, 
with  the  approval  of  King  Pippin,  and  in  later  years  he 
established  himself  in  the  neighborhood  of  what  is  now 
the  city  of  Utrecht,  where  for  more  than  thirty  years 
he  was  bishop.  There  is  no  question  that  through  his 
influence  many  of  the  heathen  were  baptized,  but  we  lack 
means  of  judging  accurately  the  extent  and  permanence 
of  the  impression  that  he  made  upon  this  heathen  popu- 
lation. The  accounts  of  his  labors  that  survive  can 
hardly  be  regarded  as  authentic,  yet  one  anecdote  con- 
tained in  them  seems  sufficiently  characteristic  to  be  true. 

Willibrord  had  preached  the  gospel  on  one  occasion 
before  King  Radbod,  and  the  heathen  monarch  professed 
himself  ready  to  be  baptized.  Just  as  the  ceremony  was 
about  to  be  performed  it  unluckily  occurred  to  him  to 
ask  an  awkward  question :  ''  What  had  become  of  his 
forefathers  who  had  never  heard  the  gospel?"  Willi- 
brord did  not  flinch,  but  replied  as  the  doctrine  of  the 
church  required,  that  the  king's  forefathers,  having  died 
without  Christian  baptism,  had  assuredly  gone  to  hell. 
Whereupon  the  sturdy  Radbod  declared  that  he  preferred 
going  to  hell  with  his  own  people  to  going  to  heaven 
without  them,  and  refused  to  be  baptized.  Whether  the 
story  is  genuine  or  apocryphal,  it  is  certain  that  Radbod 
continued  to  the  end  of  his  life  to  be  the  chief  obstacle 
to  the  progress  of  Christianity  among  his  people. 

A  considerable  number  of  individual  missionaries  had 
preached  the  gospel  in  various  parts  of  Germany  prior  to 
721.  They  had  acted,  however,  without  concert,  and  for 
the  most  part  without  ecclesiastical  authority  or  support. 
As  Neander  has  pointed  out,  two  policies  were  at  this 
time  open  to  the  Christian  church  in  the  evangelization 
of  Germany.  The  first,  if  it  may  be  called  a  policy,  was 
to  continue  the  work  already  in  operation,  and  permit 


BONIFACE  105 

missionaries  to  enter  the  field  voluntarily,  in  ever-in- 
creasing numbers,  each  working  singly;  the  church  rely- 
ing only  upon  the  power  of  the  divine  word  to  effect  a 
lodgment  in  the  hearts  of  men  and  to  transform  them 
into  the  image  of  Christ.  By  this  method,  Christianity 
might,  like  leaven,  gradually  and  by  working  outward 
from  within,  penetrate  through  the  whole  mass  of  the 
people.  Or  again,  it  was  possible  for  some  one,  endowed 
with  great  energy  and  gifts  for  organization,  with  the 
whole  power  and  influence  of  the  church  behind  him,  to 
conduct  the  missionary  enterprise  upon  one  plan,  and  in 
consequence  form  a  German  Church  closely  knit  to  the 
great  body  of  the  Catholic  Church.  The  former  method 
is  more  in  accordance  with  the  genius  and  early  history 
of  Christianity.  The  heathen  of  the  North  might  have 
been  evangelized  as  successfully,  and  possibly  as  speedily, 
as  the  Roman  empire  was  evangelized  in  the  age  of  the 
apostles.  The  other  plan  is  more  in  accordance  with  the 
spirit  of  ecclesiasticism.  There  was  here  an  issue,  if  one 
might  coin  a  word,  between  Christianity  and  cliurch- 
ianity,  between  pure  religion  and  religion  defiled  by 
worldliness.  As  so  uniformly  happened  in  the  history 
of  the  church,  the  less  Christian  method  was  adopted. 
Satan  showed  to  the  popes  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  world 
and  the  glory  of  them,  and  s?id,  "All  these  things  I  will 
give,  if  you  will  fall  down  and  worship  me."  The  popes 
fell  down  and  worshiped,  and  they  had  their  reward: 
for  a  time  the  kingdoms  of  the  world  and  the  glory  of 
them  seemed  to  be  theirs. 

That  the  ecclesiastical  method  of  evangelizing  Ger- 
many was  adopted  rather  than  the  apostolic,  was  due 
largely  to  the  fact  that  a  man  precisely  fitted  to  do  the 
work  of  church  and  pope  was  born  toward  the  close 
of  the  seventh  century.  Winfrith  (one  that  wins  peace) 
was  a  native  of  Devonshire,  and  belonged  to  a  family  of 


I06  CHRISTIAN   EPOCH-MAKERS 

some  importance.  His  parents  were  Christians,  and  they 
destined  their  son  for  a  secular  profession.  Early  in  life, 
however,  the  youth  proved  especially  susceptible  to  relig- 
ious impressions.  It  was  customary  for  the  English 
clergy  to  visit  the  homes  of  the  people  and  give  discourses 
on  religion  to  the  family,  including  the  children  and  serv- 
ants. In  this  way  Winfrith  received  instruction  from 
infancy,  and  showed  an  inclination  toward  the  religious 
life  that  alarmed  his  ambitious  father.  Only  after  long 
opposition  and  the  humbling  of  his  pride — some  say  by 
a  severe  illness,  some  by  the  loss  of  property — did  this 
father  consent  to  Winfrith's  entering  a  monastery  at 
Exeter.  Taking  the  name  henceforth  of  Bonifacius,  the 
boy  pursued  his  education  in  several  English  convents 
and  at  the  age  of  thirty  was  ordained  priest. 

His  training  consisted  largely  in  the  study  of  the 
Scriptures,  with  which  his  extant  writings  show  a  wide 
acquaintance.  His  estimate  of  the  value  of  such  study 
continued  to  be  high  even  to  the  close  of  his  life.  Many 
evidences  might  be  cited  of  this,  but  one  or  two  will  suf- 
fice. He  thus  exhorts  in  one  of  his  letters  a  young  man 
in  his  native  land : 

Throw  aside  everything  that  hinders  you,  and  direct  your 
whole  study  to  the  holy  Scripture,  and  there  seek  that  divine 
wisdom  which  is  more  precious  than  gold  .  .  .  for  what  is  more 
seemly  in  youth  to  strive  after,  or  what  can  age  possess  more 
valuable  than  the  knowledge  of  the  holy  Scripture,  which  will 
guide  our  souls,  without  danger  of  being  shipwrecked  in  the 
storm,  to  the  shores  of  the  heavenly  paradise,  to  the  eternal 
heavenly  joys  of  the  angels?^ 

To  an  abbess,  who  had  sent  him  a  Bible,  he  wrote  in 
return : 

By  your  sending  gifts  of  the  sacred  books,  the  German  exile 
has  been  consoled  with  spiritual  light ;  for  whoever  is  obliged  to 

'  Ep.   iv. 


BONIFACE  107 

visit  the  dark  corners  of  the  German  people  falls  into  the  jaws 
of  death,  unless  he  has  the  word  of  God  as  a  lamp  to  his  feet 
and  a  light  to  his  path/ 

He  requested  his  old  friend,  Daniel,  bishop  of  Winches- 
ter, to  send  him  a  manuscript  of  the  "  Prophets,"  left 
behind  by  his  deceased  abbot  and  teacher,  Wimbert,  which 
was  written  in  very  plain  and  distinct  characters. 

I 

If  God  incline  you  to  grant  this  request  (he  wrote)   you  ca.ni 

render  no  greater  comfort  to  my  old  age ;  for  in  this  country  I 
cannot  obtain  such  a  manuscript  of  the  "  Prophets  "  as  I  wish  for, 
and  with  my  already  weak  eyesight  I  cannot  distinguish  small 
and  closely  written  characters.' 

From  the  beginning  of  his  studies,  as  he  himself  con- 
fesses, a  passion  for  foreign  travel  as  well  as  the  love  of 
Christ  impelled  him  to  be  a  Christian  missionary.  This 
is  neither  to  his  discredit  nor  especially  remarkable ;  it 
has  been  true  of  others,  notably  of  Carey  and  Living- 
stone, whom  the  world  rightly  honors  for  their  great 
achievements  as  missionaries.  He  had  every  prospect  of 
distinction  if  he  remained  at  home.  He  had  been  em- 
ployed on  a  confidential  mission  that  showed  the  trust  of 
his  superiors ;  he  might  hope  in  no  long  time  to  be  abbot, 
and  thence  to  rise  to  higher  position  In  the  church.  But 
the  missionary  call  proved  superior  to  any  such  pros- 
pects. At  home  was  peace,  plenty,  honor;  abroad  was 
privation,  danger,  suffering,  possible  death;  but  he  did 
not  hesitate. 

With  the  consent  of  his  superiors  he  began  his  work  in 
715,  and  a  less  ardent  spirit  than  his  would  have  been  dis- 
couraged, for  his  first  mission  was  a  complete  failure. 
War  had  broken  out  between  King  Radbod  and  the 
Franks;  a  fierce  persecution  of  the  Christians  in  Fries- 
land  had  already  begun,  with  general  destruction  of  the 
Christian  churches  and  rebuilding  of  the  heathen  tem- 

*  Ep.  xviii.  '  Ep.   xix. 


I08  CHRISTIAN  EPOCH-MAKERS 

pies ;  for  the  time,  further  missionary  work  was  evidently 
quite  out  of  the  question.  Boniface  was,  however,  far 
from  being  cast  down.  Returning  for  a  brief  sojourn  in 
his  native  land,  the  brothers  of  his  convent  would  have 
made  him  abbot,  but  the  missionary  call  that  had  come 
to  him  made  impossible  any  other  work.  In  718  he  left 
England,  which  he  was  destined  never  to  see  again,  and 
made  a  pilgrimage  to  Rome.  Presenting  the  commend- 
atory letters  of  his  bishop  to  Pope  Gregory  II,  he  was 
not  only  kindly  received,  but  specially  commissioned  to 
preach  the  gospel  to  the  pagans  of  Germany.  This  com- 
mission was  of  great  value  to  him,  inasmuch  as  it  ex- 
horted all  who  had  authority  to  forward  his  mission.  In 
his  letters  Boniface  tells  how  much  he  afterward  owed 
to  this  commendation :  "  Without  the  protection  of  the 
king  of  Franks,  I  could  neither  rule  the  people  nor  de- 
fend the  priests,  the  monks,  and  the  handmaids  .of  God, 
nor  prevent  pagan  and  idolatrous  rites  in  Germany." 

Going  back  to  his  chosen  field  of  labor,  he  proceeded 
first  to  Thuringia,  which  had  already  been  in  part  evan- 
gelized by  the  disciples  of  Columban.  Some  of  the 
Christians  there  appear  to  have  been  Arian;  none  ac- 
knowledged allegiance  to  the  pope.  Boniface  attempted 
to  bring  them  into  submission  to  the  orthodox  faith  and 
to  Rome,  but  made  little  progress.  Hearing  that  Radbod 
was  dead,  he  again  repaired  to  Friesland,  where  he 
preached  three  years  with  much  success.  Bishop  Willi- 
brord  was  becoming  aged,  and  desired  one  to  be  a  present 
coadjutor  and  a  future  successor.  Boniface  seemed  to 
be  the  fitting  man,  but  again  he  refused  church  prefer- 
ment that  he  might  be   faithful  to  his  missionary  call. 

Real  missionary  work  among  the  heathen  was  first 
begun  by  him  in  ^22,  when  he  went  to  Hessia  and 
preached  the  gospel  of  Christ  where  it  had  never  before 
been  proclaimed.    Here  in  no  long  time  he  succeeded  in 


BONIFACE  109 

baptizing  converts  by  the  thousand,  including  two  princes 
of  the  region.  He  destroyed  the  heathen  temples,  built 
in  their  stead  Christian  churches,  and  founded  the  mon- 
astery of  Fulda.  He  had  many  dangers  and  hardships 
to  undergo,  but  found  in  the  progress  of  his  work  ample 
compensation  for  all. 

The  pope  was  so  much  pleased  by  the  result  of  these 
labors  that  in  723  Boniface  was  recalled  to  Rome,  that 
he  might  be  consecrated  bishop  of  this  region.  It  is  said 
there  had  been  some  doubts  concerning  his  orthodoxy, 
which  were  only  removed  by  his  submission  to  the  pope 
of  a  written  confession  of  faith.  He  was  thereafter  con- 
secrated bishop  at  large  of  the  new  church  in  Germany, 
since  his  labors  were  not  to  be  confined  to  any  one  place, 
and  he  could  hardly  be  said  at  that  time  to  have  a  definite 
diocese.  It  was  usual  in  his  age  for  those  Italian  bishops 
who  were  consecrated  by  the  pope  in  person  to  take  an 
oath  of  obedience  to  him.  A  similar  pledge  was  required 
from  Boniface,  the  form  of  which  is  said  to  have  been 
as  follows : 

I,  Boniface,  bishop  by  the  grace  of  God,  promise  thee  blessed 
Peter,  chief  of  the  apostles,  and  thy  vicar,  Pope  Gregory  and 
his  successors,  that  with  God's  help  I  will  proclaim  the  unity 
and  purity  of  the  holy  Catholic  faith,  and  will  abide  in  the  unity 
of  that  faith ;  that  I  will  in  no  manner  agree  with  anything  con- 
trary to  the  unity  of  the  common  and  universal  church,  but  will 
in  every  way  maintain  my  faith  pure  and  my  co-operation  con- 
stantly for  thee,  and  for  the  benefit  of  thy  church,  on  which  was 
bestowed  by  God  the  power  to  bind  and  loose,  and  for  thy  vicar 
aforesaid  and  his  successors.  And  whenever  I  find  that  the 
conduct  of  the  presiding  officers  of  churches  contradicts  the 
ancient  decrees  and  ordinances  of  the  fathers,  I  will  have  no  fel- 
lowship or  connection  with  them,  but  on  the  contrary,  if  I  can 
hinder  them  I  will  hinder  them;  and  if  not,  I  will  at  once  faith- 
fully report  them  to  my  apostolic  lord.  But  if  (which  God  for- 
bid) I  should  attempt  to  take  any  other  course  whatever  con- 
trary to  this  promise  of  mine,  in  thought  or  act,  may  I  be  found 


no  CHRISTIAN   EPOCH-MAKERS 

guilty  at  the  eternal  judgment  and  meet  the  doom  of  Ananias 
and  Sapphira.  This  abbreviated  oath  I  have  written  with  my 
own  hand,  and  above  the  most  sacred  body  of  blessed  Peter,  as 
prescribed,  God  being  my  witness  and  judge,  I  have  taken  this 
oath,  which  I  also  promise  to  keep.^ 

And  keep  it  he  certainly  did.  Indeed,  the  taking  of  this 
oath  must  be  pronounced  one  of  the  most  momentous 
events  in  the  history  of  the  Western  church.  Being  what 
he  was- — a  man  of  no  great  learning,  perhaps,  but  a  man 
of  unbounded  energy,  of  great  firmness,  of  marked 
capacity  for  leadership,  and  of  integrity  beyond  ques- 
tion— this  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  Roman  pontiff  meant 
that,  so  far  as  Germany  was  evangelized  under  the  lead- 
ership of  Boniface,  it  would  be  a  conquest  of  the  Roman 
Church.  There  had  been  no  Httle  prospect  up  to  this  time 
that  the  evangelization  of  this  region  would  be  accom- 
plished by  men  not  thus  subservient  to  Rome.  Had  the 
British  missionaries  sent  out  from  Ireland  continued 
their  operations  and  planted  churches  throughout  Ger- 
many, Ireland  and  not  Rome  would  have  swayed  the  des- 
tinies of  central  Europe  and  the  history  of  the  world 
might  have  been  completely  changed.  The  Roman 
Church,  in  that  event,  would  have  been  circumscribed 
within  the  southern  part  of  Europe,  and  its  authority 
might  never  have  been  extended  farther  northward  and 

jwestward. 

""  This  danger  was  well  understood  at  Rome,  and  Boni- 
face was  not  more  desirous  to  have  the  approval  of  the 
pope  than  the  pope  was  to  attach  to  himself  a  missionary 
so  energetic  and  capable.  As  Gregory  looked  at  the 
matter  the  real  end  in  view  was  not  merely  to  convert 
the  pagans,  but  to  subdue  those  already  converted  to  the 
Church  of  Rome.  To  build  up  the  power  of  the  Roman 
Church  in  Germany  was  quite  as  desirable,  if  not  more 

1  Migne,  "  Latin  Patrology,"  LXXXIX,  803. 


BONIFACE  III 

desired,  than  merely  to  Christianize  the  heathen  tribes. 
Nay,  until  this  was  done  (so  it  was  held  at  Rome)  the 
heathen  were  not,  properly  speaking,  Christianized.  How 
Boniface  came  so  completely  to  adopt  and  make  his  own 
this  Roman  view  of  the  missionary  enterprise  is  an  inter- 
esting question,  to  which  a  satisfactory  answer  is  per- 
haps hardly  possible.  Probably  Augustine  and  his  suc- 
cessors had  so  carefully  inculcated  obedience  and  respect 
toward  the  bishop  of  Rome  that  English  Christians  of 
the  eighth  century  had  very  different  sentiments  on  this 
subject  from  those  that  prevailed  in  Ireland.  The  youth 
Winfrith  had  doubtless  been  carefully  bred  in  the  Roman 
theocratic  beliefs ;  it  was  easy,  therefore,  for  the  man 
Boniface  to  look  to  Rome  as  the  source  of  authority ;  and 
when  he  entered  on  his  missionary  career  it  was  most 
natural  that  he  should  seek  approval  from  Rome.  Re- 
ceiving his  episcopal  office  and  authority  directly  from 
the  pope,  it  was  to  be  expected  that  he  should  profess 
loyal  obedience  to  him. 

The  missionaries  already  in  Germany,  whom  Boniface 
was  expected  to  reduce  into  obedience  to  the  Roman 
See,  were  quite  his  equals  in  learning,  in  piety,  in  expe- 
rience. Indeed,  it  seems  certain  that  some  should  be 
counted  his  superiors  in  learning  and  experience  at  least. 
They  were,  however,  less  closely  allied  in  blood  to  the 
Germanic  tribes  than  Boniface,  less  able  therefore  to 
'understand  those  among  whom  they  labored,  and  conse- 
quently less  successful  in  adapting  their  preaching  and 
administration  to  the  peculiarities  of  the  people.  Above 
all,  they  were  his  inferiors  in  shrewdness,  in  personal 
magnetism,  in  strength  of  will.  Boniface  had  in  an  ex- 
traordinary degree  the  rare  and  inexplicable  gift  of  influ- 
encing men  in  masses ;  and  whenever  such  a  man  is  found 
he  is  predestined  king  of  men.  By  virtue  of  this  endow- 
ment he  was  able  to  overshadow  all  other  contempora- 


112  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

ries,  to  become  the  chief  of  the  missionaries  to  Germany 
and  influence  for  all  time  the  development  of  Christianity 
in  central  Europe. 

But  we  must  not  think  of  this  as  the  chief  labor  of 
Boniface,  or  the  thing  that  most  commends  him  to  our 
remembrance.  He  was  a  genuine  missionary,  and  the 
greater  part  of  his  activity  was  directed  to  the  conversion 
of  the  heathen,  in  which  he  was  greatly  successful.  Con-^ 
version  meant  more  to  him  than  to  many  Roman  mission- 
aries; he  had  enough  genuine  religion  in  his  own  heart 
to  prevent  him  from  making  converts  by  standing  heathen 
up  in  a  row,  sprinkling  water  over  them  with  a  brush, 
and  then  calling  them  Christians.  He  required  at  least 
abandonment  of  idol-worship,  profession  of  faith  in  the 
true  God,  and  willingness  to  submit  to  the  further  in- 
struction of  the  church,  before  he  reckoned  men  converts 
or  would  baptize  them. 

The  same  gifts  that  gave  him  the  preeminence  among 
his  fellow-missionaries  secured  him  the  respect  of  the 
heathen — a  feeling  that  soon  deepened  into  admiration 
and  made  obedience  easy.  Anecdotes  of  his  fearlessness 
are  not  wanting;  he  came  of  a  race  to  whom  bravery  is 
as  natural  as  breathing,  and  bold  defiance  of  heathen 
superstitions,  that  might  have  endangered  the  life  of 
another,  was  no  small  part  of  his  power.  At  Geismar, 
in  Upper  Hessia,  stood  an  oak  tree,  of  gigantic  size  and 
great  age,  sacred  to  Thor  and  for  generations  regarded 
by  the  people  with  the  deepest  veneration.  Boniface  had 
long  been  preaching  against  the  vanity  of  idolatry,  the 
helplessness  of  the  idols  for  either  good  or  bad,  but  with- 
out perceptible  effect.  He  determined  upon  a  grand 
stroke,  an  impressive  object-lesson,  that  should  carry 
conviction  to  all.  He  repaired  with  his  associates  to  the 
spot  where  the  oak  stood — a  place  where  gatherings  of 
the  people  for  idolatrous  worship  were  wont  to  be  made. 


BONIFACE  113 

With  a  large  axe  he  attacked  the  tree,  the  people  standing 
by  in  mute  rage  and  horror,  momentarily  expecting  the 
god  of  thunder  to  strike  dead  this  sacrilegious  invader  of 
his  shrine.  But  nothing  happened  save  the  downfall  of 
the  tree,  which  was  broken  into  four  pieces,  while  the 
faith  of  the  people  in  Thor  was  even  worse  shattered. 

Out  of  the  timbers  of  this  tree  Boniface  had  a  church 
built,  which  he  dedicated  to  St.  Peter,  and  the  people  are 
said  from  that  day  to  have  given  up  their  idols  and  wor- 
shiped the  God  of  Boniface — when  they  did  not  instead 
worship  the  saints  and  the  Virgin.  There  was  less  gain 
than  could  have  been  wished  in  substituting  the  calendar 
of  Romish  saints  for  the  gods  of  the  Aryan  mythology; 
to  a  very  considerable  extent  this  "  conversion  "  of  the 
Germans  was  only  the  transference  of  the  old  idolatry  to 
new  objects;  but  such  gain  as  could  result  from  such  a 
change  was  made.  It  but  just  to  Boniface  himself  to 
add  that  he  did  not  teach  saint-worship  and  Mariolatry 
to  his  German  converts  as  they  were  taught  in  subsequent 
centuries.  His  religion  was  more  evangelical  than  that 
coming  to  be  practised  at  Rome,  and  far  indeed  from 
that  revolting  perversion  of  the  religion  of  Christ  that 
was  fully  developed  in  the  Middle  Ages. 

Not  only  the  popes,  but  the  English  people,  took  a  great 
interest  in  the  missionary  work  of  Boniface.  From  time 
to  time  he  received  reinforcements — missionaries  and 
books,  perhaps  money  also — from  his  ancestral  church. 
In  732  he  was  raised  to  the  rank  of  archbishop  by  Greg- 
ory III,  and  the  added  dignity  of  papal  legate  was  con- 
ferred upon  him,  that  he  might  be  better  able  to  control 
all  ecclesiastical  affairs  in  Germany  in  the  interests  of  the 
Roman  See.  In  738  he  made  a  third  and  last  visit  to 
Rome,  where  what  he  had  done  received  full  approval, 
and  he  was  given  authority  to  call  a  synod  in  Germany. 
During  the  next  ten  years  he  was  largely  engaged  in  the 

H 


114  CHRISTIAN    ErOCH-MAKERS 

work  of  administration.  Having  full  authority  to  erect 
bishoprics,  he  established  many  of  what  were  later  the 
richest  and  most  important  Sees,  among  them  Mainz, 
Salzburg,  Freising,  Passau,  Ratisbon,  and  Erfurt.  The 
churches  of  Cologne,  Worms,  Speyer,  and  Augsburg  are 
also  said  either  to  have  been  founded  by  him  or  to  have 
been  recalled  from  heresy  and  made  obedient  to  the 
Roman  Church  by  his  agency. 

In  744,  in  a  council  held  at  Soissons,  the  bishops  who 
had  remained  refractory  were  condemned,  and  thence- 
forth there  was  little  opposition  to  the  authority  of  Boni- 
face in  Germany.  If  he  ruled  with  a  high  hand,  it  was 
as  a  father,  not  as  a  tyrant;  he  was  mild  rather  than 
stern,  but  firm  in  his  mildness,  as  a  strong  man  knows 
how  to  be.  The  man  of  brag  and  bluster  may  seem  a 
strong  man  to  those  unskilled  in  reading  human  nature; 
but  it  is  the  man  who  knows  how  to  hide  the  steel  hand 
in  the  glove  of  velvet  that  really  controls  men  and  guides 
the  destinies  of  nations. 

Though  he  was  so  eminently  qualified  for  the  work  of 
administration,  and  so  successful  in  his  conduct  of  the 
affairs  of  the  church,  Boniface  seems  to  have  had  no  love 
for  this  work;  his  heart  was  with  the  heathen  people  of 
Germany,  and  he  longed  for  the  active  work  of  a  mis- 
sionary. In  the  year  753  he  chose  Lull  as  his  successor 
in  the  archbishopric  at  Mainz,  and  laying  aside  his  digni- 
ties and  power,  he  returned  with  about  fifty  devoted  fol- 
lowers to  missionary  work  in  Friesland,  where  a  reaction 
toward  heathenism  had  set  in.  Rare  indeed  is  it  for  one 
who  has  gained  power  and  tasted  its  sweets  to  resign  it 
voluntarily.  Perhaps  even  more  rare  is  it  for  one  who 
has  already  spent  the  allotted  life  of  man  in  continuous 
and  exhausting  labors,  instead  of  passing  his  last  years 
in  what  most  men  would  consider  well-gained  repose,  to 
begin  at  threescore  and  ten  years  a  missionary  enterprise 


BONIFACE  115 

from  which  many  a  young  man  would  shrink.  But  the 
work  of  unifying  the  German  Church  was  done,  only  too 
well  done,  and  Boniface  felt  himself  at  liberty  to  do  the 
work  to  which  his  heart  impelled  him.  He  took  leave 
of  his  successor  in  these  words : 

I  cannot  do  otherwise;  I  must  go  whither  the  impulse  of  my 
heart  leads  me,  for  the  time  of  my  departure  is  at  hand;  soon 
I  shall  be  freed  from  this  body  and  obtain  a  crown  of  eternal 
glory.  But  you,  my  dearest  son,  carry  on  to  perfection  the 
founding  of  the  churches,  which  I  began  in  Thuringia ;  earnestly 
recall  the  people  from  erroneous  doctrines ;  complete  the  building 
of  the  church  in  Fulda  [the  favorite  establishment  of  Boniface], 
and  may  that  be  the  resting-place  of  my  body,  bowed  down  with 
years.^ 

These  last  years  were  his  best  years  as  a  missionary. 
They  were  but  two,  or  possibly  some  months  less,  but  in 
that  time  he  traveled  through  Friesland  with  all  his  youth- 
ful vigor,  preaching  the  gospel  and  baptizing  those  who 
professed  themselves  converts.  He  did  not  do  this  with- 
out rousing  great  opposition  among  the  leaders  of  the 
heathen  reaction;  and  these  men  determined  to  end  the 
labors  and  the  life  of  the  great  missionary.  The  day 
approached,  in  the  month  of  June,  755,  when  Boniface 
had  appointed  a  meeting  on  the  banks  of  the  Burda,  near 
Dockingen.  A  large  number  of  newly  baptized  converts 
was  expected  to  gather,  that  they  might  receive  from  him 
the  rite  of  confirmation.  But  in  their  stead  came  an 
armed  host  of  pagans  against  him  and  his  small  band  of 
followers.  His  young  men  would  have  defended  him  to 
the  last,  but  he  forbade  them,  saying: 

Cease  fighting,  for  the  holy  Scriptures  teach  us  not  to  return 
evil  with  evil,  but  evil  with  good.  I  have  for  a  long  time  ear- 
nestly desired  this  day,  and  the  time  of  my  departure  is  now 
come.    Be  strong  in  the  Lord  and  bear  with  thankful  resignation 

» "  Life,"  by  Willibald,  chap.  XXI. 


Il6  CHRISTIAN   EPOCH-MAKERS 

whatever  his  grace  sends.     Hope  in  him  and  he  will  save  your 
souls.^ 

To  his  clergy,  whom  he  knew  to  be  doomed  to  the  same 
slaughter,  he  said: 

Brothers,  be  of  good  courage,  and  be  not  afraid  of  them  that 
can  kill  the  body,  but  cannot  kill  the  soul  that  is  destined  for 
eternal  life.  Rejoice  in  the  Lord,  and  cast  the  anchor  of  your 
hope  on  him  who  will  give  you  immediately  the  reward  of  eter- 
nal happiness.  Endure  steadfastly  the  brief  moment  of  death, 
that  you  may  remain  forever  with  Christ.^ 

Thus,  with  calmness  and  resignation,  Boniface  met  the 
death  of  a  Christian  martyr,  the  death  of  all  others  that 
he  would  have  chosen  to  die,  and  nothing  in  all  his  life 
became  him  so  well  as  this  closing  hour.  His  body  was 
taken  to  his  favorite  monastery  of  Fulda  for  burial, 
where  his  ashes  yet  remain;  and  the  Catholics  of  Ger- 
many still  invoke  St.  Boniface  as  their  especial  patron  and 
intercessor. 

Boniface  was  the  greatest  of  the  medieval  missionaries. 
In  abilities  and  character  he  was  well  fitted  to  be  a  suc- 
cessor, a  worthy  successor,  of  Gregory  the  Great  on  the 
papal  throne.  He  was  a  man  of  pure  and  elevated  nature, 
who  deserved  his  canonization  better  than  most  of  the 
so-called  saints;  yet  he  was  by  no  means  perfect.  It  is 
charged  against  him  that  personal  ambition  influenced 
him  more  than  zeal  for  the  spread  of  Christ's  kingdom 
or  even  the  aggrandizement  of  the  church.  His  latest 
mission,  in  which  he  lost  his  life,  is  represented  by  some 
as  only  an  attempt  on  his  part  to  extend  his  own  power 
in  Friesland  against  the  opposition  of  the  bishop  of  Co- 
logne, but  this  seems  rather  the  argument  of  an  advocatus 
diaboli  than  the  sober  judgment  of  the  historian. 

The  most  unlovely  thing  in  the  life  of  Boniface  is  his 
conduct  toward  the  Irish  missionaries  who  had  preceded 

»Willibald,    "Life   of    Boniface,"   chap.    XXlI.  ^  Ibid. 


BONIFACE  117 

him  into  Germany.  We  can  understand,  and  easily  for- 
give, his  zeal  for  what  seemed  to  him  a  reformation  of 
the  church.  That  a  man  should  have  the  courage  of  his 
convictions  and  execute  them  with  zeal  and  determina- 
tion is  a  quality  that  always  commands  the  world's  re- 
spect, even  when  men  are  constrained  to  believe  the  con- 
victions more  or  less  wrong-headed.  What  cannot  be  so 
easily  condoned  is  the  uncharitable  and  even  violent 
temper  that  Boniface  sometimes  manifested. 

Two  of  his  chief  opponents  were  Adelbert  and  Clem- 
ent, the  former  a  Frank,  the  latter  an  Irishman,  and  both 
disciples  of  Columban.  Boniface  accused  these  bishops 
of  various  heresies  and  aberrations  in  discipline,  into 
which  it  were  profitless,  and  possibly  unavaiHng,  to  in- 
quire. Probably  their  chief  heresy  was  denial  of  the 
authority  of  the  pope,  and  their  grossest  error  in  disci- 
pline was  failure  to  submit  to  the  will  of  Boniface  in 
all  things.  Having  at  length  secured  their  condemnation 
by  synod,  and  the  support  of  the  Prankish  king  in  execu- 
ting this  decree,  Boniface  proposed  that,  to  render  them 
harmless  for  the  future,  the  two  bishops  should  be  con- 
fined for  life.  Pope  Zacharias  more  mercifully  decided 
that  condemnation  as  heretics  and  deposition  from  their 
Sees  was  sufficient  punishment.  Nevertheless,  in  spite  of 
this  papal  decision,  Adelbert  would  have  been  kept  in 
prison  indefinitely,  possibly  for  life,  had  he  not  succeeded 
in  making  his  escape,  soon  after  which  he  miserably  per- 
ished. We  have  no  certain  information  of  Clement's  end, 
but  very  likely  it  was  no  better.  This  transaction  will 
always  remain  an  indelible  blot  on  the  career  of  Boni- 
face, the  blacker  in  that  he  exhibited  an  injustice  and 
harshness  in  excess  of  his  lawful  powers  and  in  defiance 
of  the  will  of  his  ecclesiastical  superior,  to  whom  he  pro- 
fessed and  ordinarily  gave  complete  obedience.  In  this 
case  it  was  manifestly  pure  bigotry  that  made  Boniface 


Il8  CHRISTIAN   EPOCH-MAKERS 

disobedient  to  the  pope.  To  him  Christianity  and  the 
Roman  Church  were  identical  terms ;  and  the  papal  power 
and  the  papal  discipline  were  to  be  upheld  even  against 
the  pope  himself.  He  is  not  the  first  nor  the  last 
ecclesiastic  who  was  more  Roman  than  Rome. 

Yet  this  spirit  of  devotion  to  the  Roman  See  by  no 
means  always  triumphed  over  certain  human  weaknesses 
of  the  great  missionary  to  Germany.  One  of  these  was 
a  high  sense  of  his  own  dignity,  and  on  more  than  one 
occasion  he  withstood  the  pope,  when  the  latter  seemed 
to  him  to  be  encroaching  on  his  due  prerogatives.  Thus 
when  Pope  Stephen  visited  France,  he  undertook  of  his 
own  motion  to  ordain  a  bishop  of  Mainz.  Boniface 
stoutly  resisted  this  action,  and  only  the  interposition  of 
King  Pippin  healed  the  breach.  In  certain  of  his  letters 
to  the  popes,  Boniface  did  not  hesitate  to  lecture  his  supe- 
rior, and  to  protest  against  some  heathen  usages  that 
were  tolerated  at  Rome.  He  asked  plain  questions  about 
the  current  rumors  of  simony,  and  said  roundly  that  the 
pope  and  his  immediate  associates  owed  it  to  Christendom 
to  be  to  all  an  example  of  purity  of  life  and  honesty  of 
administration.  That  this  freedom  was  relished  at  Rome 
is  not  probable,  but  Boniface  was  too  useful  a  servant 
for  the  pope  to  quarrel  with  him  over  trifles.  His  Holi- 
ness doubtless  made  a  wry  face  and  let  the  matter  pass. 

But  on  the  whole,  we  must  regard  the  work  of  Boni- 
face as  equally  honorable  to  him  and  beneficent  in  its 
results.  From  one  point  of  view  it  might  doubtless  be 
said  that  it  would  have  been  better  for  the  world  if  he 
had  never  lived.  For  his  labors  made  possible  men  like 
Hildebrand  and  Innocent  III,  with  their  pretensions  of 
universal  domain  and  authority  as  the  vicegerents  of 
God,  the  vicars  of  Christ,  to  whom  all  power  had  been 
committed,  both  in  heaven  and  on  earth.  But  even  so, 
may  it  not  be  said  that  some  strong  central  power,  that 


BONIFACE  119 

would  be  universally  respected  and  obeyed,  was  necessary 
in  those  centuries  of  confusion  and  unrest  that  we  call 
the  Dark  Ages?  No  civil  power  of  such  amplitude  was 
then  existent  or  possible.  The  church  was  the  one  insti- 
tution capable  of  development  into  the  common  center  of 
unity  and  authority.  Papal  power  was  better  than 
universal  anarchy. 

A  chief  result  of  the  labors  of  Boniface  was  undoubt-^ 
edly  to  give  a  great  impulse  to  the  development  of  mona- 
chism.  In  view  of  the  enormous  evil  wrought  by  this 
system  in  the  later  medieval  period,  many  would  be  in- 
clined to  set  this  down  on  the  debit  side  of  his  account. 
But  in  his  time,  in  countries  that  were  a  weltering  waste 
of  ignorance  and  superstition,  the  monasteries  were  as 
oases  in  the  desert.  Against  all  the  ill  of  monachism  we 
must  set  at  least  this  good :  that  for  ages  the  monks  were 
custodians  of  the  world's  literature,  and  they  must  be 
awarded  the  praise  of  having  well  fulfilled  their  trust. 
Every  text  of  the  New  Testament,  and  practically  every 
manuscript  of  Greek  or  Latin  classic  known  to  modern 
scholars,  had  its  birthplace  and  only  home  in  some  mon- 
astery. With  loving  care  the  monks  preserved  and  mul- 
tiplied through  innumerable  copies  the  treasures  of 
Christian  and  pagan  antiquity;  and  that  every  trace  of 
ancient  learning  did  not  vanish  from  the  earth  during 
the  Dark  Ages  is  almost  solely  due  to  them. 

Not  only  were  the  monasteries  the  seats  of  learning, 
the  libraries  and  universities  of  this  troublous  period; 
they  were  the  chief  civilizing  centers.  A  monastery  of 
the  Middle  Ages  was  a  great  industrial  and  agricultural 
community,  which  cleared  the  forests,  redeemed  the 
wastes,  encouraged  handicrafts  and  arts,  setting  to  the 
rest  of  the  world  a  shining  example  of  industry,  thrift, 
and  improvement.  The  vast  aggregation  of  landed  prop- 
erty, which  in  the  end  became  such  a  menace  to  society, 


I20  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

was  at  first  an  almost  unmixed  blessing.  Religious  insti- 
tutions alone  might  hope  to  escape,  in  those  ages  of  per- 
petual warfare,  the  spoliation  of  the  defeated.  Those 
who  held  lands  of  king  or  baron,  held  on  a  tenure  most 
uncertain;  they  could  hope  to  retain  their  possessions 
only  so  long  as  their  overlord  might  maintain  himself 
against  enemies  pressing  him  from  every  side.  Those 
who  held  of  the  church  were  absolutely  safe,  certain  of 
her  powerful  protection,  come  what  would. 

Add  to  this  the  philanthropic  function  of  the  monas- 
teries: they  were  the  inns  where  travelers  were  freely 
entertained — often  the  only  safe  and  respectable  place  of 
harborage  to  be  found.  They  were  hospitals  where  the 
sick  were  given  such  medical  and  surgical  aid  as  the 
knowledge  of  the  times  afforded;  asylums  where  the 
orphan,  the  widowed,  the  oppressed  found  refuge  and 
help,  and  not  infrequently  redress  of  their  wrongs.  The 
one  institution  that  was  stable,  the  one  force  that  was 
respected  by  the  fiercest  of  robber  barons,  they  did  much 
to  alleviate  the  sufferings  and  to  lift  the  burdens  of  the 
people  in  an  age  when  might  made  right.  Modern  civil- 
ization owes  a  great  debt  to  monachism  when  a  just  bal- 
ance is  struck,  and  to  Boniface  as  one  of  its  chief 
promoters. 

The  supreme  test  of  greatness  is  that  a  man  leave 
behind  him  those  who  are  able  to  carry  on  his  work. 
There  have  been  many  men  who  must  be  pronounced 
great  when  measured  by  the  test  of  their  own  achieve- 
ments, whose  influence  has  been  evanescent  because  they 
left  no  successor.  They  insisted  on  doing  >  everything 
themselves,  in  keeping  all  the  strings  of  power  in  their 
own  hands;  they  crushed  rather  than  fostered  talent, 
repressed  the  power  of  initiative  in  others.  So  when  they 
passed  away,  the  great  edifice  they  had  reared  crumbled 
— there  was  nobody  capable  of  taking  their  place  and 


BONIFACE  121 

pushing  forward  what  they  had  begun.  On  a  plane  above 
such  must  be  placed  the  few  who  have  been  great  enough 
not  only  to  achieve,  but  to  raise  up  successors — men  who 
have  acquired  power  and  used  it  well,  and  have  also  been 
great  enough  to  part  with  power  that  others  might  learn 
to  use  it. 

Such  men  are  rare,  but  such  a  man  was  Boniface.  He 
left  a  number  of  devoted  disciples,  only  inferior  to  him- 
self as  zealous  missionaries  and  successful  administra- 
tors, men  who  were  quite  capable  of  conserving  what  he 
had  won  and  adding  thereto  accomplishment  of  their 
own.  Such  were  the  Abbot  Gregory,  who  completed  the 
evangelizing  of  Friesland;  and  Sturm,  who  carried  the 
gospel  among  the  Saxons,  and  made  the  monastery  of 
Fulda  the  center  of  culture  and  enlightenment  for  Ger- 
many, a  northern  Monte  Casino.  Such  were  Liudiger 
and  Willehad,  and  more  that  need  not  be  named,  who  fill 
a  high  place  in  the  annals  of  early  German  Christianity. 
These  men  of  the  younger  generation  took  up  the  burden 
Boniface  laid  down,  consolidated  and  advanced  the  church 
founded  by  him,  and  made  the  power  of  Rome  extend  to 
the  farthest  limits  of  the  German  race  in  Europe. 

If  Gregory's  was  the  mind  that  planned  the  great 
scheme  of  missionary  conquest  by  the  Roman  Church  in 
northern  Europe,  Boniface  was  as  clearly  the  right  arm 
for  its  execution. 


VII 

ANSGAR : 
THE   GOSPEL   IN   SCANDINAVIA 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

The  chief  source  for  the  life  of  Ansgar  is  the  Vita  Ansgaris 
of  his  follower,  Rimbert,  in  Pertz,  Monumenta  Germ.  Hist.,  Vol. 
II,  pp.  689-725.  It  may  be  found  also  in  Mabillon's  Acta  Sancto- 
rum, Saec.  IV,  Pt.  II,  pp.  78-114.  A  secondary  source  is  Adam 
of  Bremen's  Gesta  Hamburgensis  Ecclesics  PontiUcum,  in  Pertz, 
Vol.  VII,  pp.  283-389.  There  is  no  biography  of  Ansgar  in 
English,  but  an  excellent  one  in  German:  Tappenhorn,  Lehen 
des  Heiligen  Ansgar,  Apostels  von  D'dnemark  und  Schweden 
(Miinster,  1863).  Good  sketches  of  Ansgar's  missionary  labors 
are  to  be  found  in  the  standard  church  histories,  especially 
Neander,  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  271-306;  Milman,  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  129-142; 
Schaff,  Vol.  IV,  pp.  106-123.  See  also  the  monograph  by  Maclear 
on  "  The  Northmen  "  in  the  Conversion  of  the  West  series  of  the 
S.  P.  C.  K. 


VII 

ansgar:  the  gospel  in  scandinavia 

ONE  of  the  biographers  of  Charlemagne,  the  monk  of 
St.  Gall,  relates  that  in  the  year  following  his  coro- 
nation as  emperor  of  the  West,  he  made  a  progress 
through  Neustria,  in  the  course  of  which  he  visited  a  sea- 
side town.  While  he  was  at  table,  vessels  of  Norman  pi- 
rates appeared  within  view  of  the  port.  Some  of  the  cour- 
tiers took  them  for  Jewish  merchants,  others  for  Africans 
or  Britons.  But  Charles  himself  was  better  informed :  by 
the  peculiar  model  and  the  swiftness  of  the  vessels  he 
knew  that  they  were  designed  not  for  commerce,  but  for 
war.  "  These  ships,"  he  cried,  "  are  full,  not  of  mer- 
chandise, but  of  bitter  enemies."  All  who  were  present 
hastened  to  the  attack  of  these  enemies,  but  in  vain,  for 
the  Normans  having  learned  that  the  great  Charles  was 
there,  withdrew  in  haste.  Soon  after  the  emperor  rose 
from  table,  leaned  against  a  window,  and  remained  there 
a  long  time  plunged  in  deep  thought.  His  courtiers 
observed  the  tears  coursing  down  his  cheeks,  but  none 
dared  to  question  him  regarding  the  cause  of  his  emotion. 
At  length  he  addressed  them,  "  Do  you  know,  my  liege 
men,  why  I  weep  ?  I  do  not  fear  that  these  men  can  hurt 
us,  but  it  afflicts  me  that  while  I  live  they  have  dared  to 
insult  my  coasts,  and  I  foresee  with  grief  what  evil  they 
will  do  my  descendants  and  their  subjects." 

This  is  the  first  mention  of  the  Normans  in  authentic 
history.  The  prescience  of  Charles  was  justified.  These 
hardy  seamen,  these  bold  warriors,  did  indeed  do  the  de- 
scendants of  Charles  great  harm.    For  good  or  evil,  they 

125 


126  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

changed  the  history  of  the  world.  They  harried  the 
coast  of  Europe  as  far  south  as  Italy,  making  good  their 
settlements  at  many  points;  and  as  their  crowning 
achievement,  they  won  a  large  and  fertile  province  of  the 
domain  of  Charles,  thence  named  Normandy.  Later 
still,  their  descendants,  by  successful  invasion  of  England, 
left  an  impress  upon  our  own  language  and  race  whose 
results  are  felt  to  this  day,  and  will  be  manifest  until 
the  English-speaking  peoples  perish  from  the  earth.  We 
have,  therefore,  more  than  a  passing  interest  in  the  story 
of  this  people  and  of  their  evangelization. 

The  Normans  were  one  of  three  principal  families  or 
tribes  of  the  people  known  by  the  general  title  of  Scandi- 
navians. They  are  a  branch  of  the  Teutonic  race,  and  in 
prehistoric  ages  were  one  people  with  the  Germans,  the 
Angles,  and  the  Dutch.  Long  before  they  thus  appear 
in  the  time  of  Charlemagne  as  a  historic  people,  these 
Scandinavians  were  settled  in  the  countries  where  we 
now  find  them — in  Norway,  Sweden,  and  Denmark,  that 
is  to  say — where  they  possessed  institutions  similar  to 
those  of  other  Germanic  tribes.  Most  of  the  people  were 
free,  though  some  were  held  in  a  mild  slavery.  Every 
freeman  was  a  member  of  the  Great  Thing,  or  tribal 
assembly,  and  without  the  sanction  of  this  body  no  law 
was  valid  and  no  judgment  good.  There  were  various 
local  Things,  or  assemblies,  whose  functions  were  chiefly 
judicial.  Above  the  freemen  were  the  jarls,  correspond- 
ing to  the  earls  of  England,  and  there  was  also  a  king, 
whose  real  authority  was  much  inferior  to  the  nominal. 
The  royal  family  were  supposed  to  be  descended  from 
one  of  the  gods,  but  the  monarchy,  as  in  all  other  Ger- 
manic peoples,  was  rather  elective  than  hereditary — that 
prince  of  the  royal  house  being  chosen  who  seemed  on 
the  whole  best  fitted  for  the  throne. 

The  religion  of  these  Scandinavians  was  a  form  of  that 


ANSGAR  127 

nature  worship  that  seems  common  to  all  Aryan  peoples. 
Odin  was  the  chief  of  the  gods,  the  all-father,  and  of 
him  and  Frigg,  Thor  and  Balder  were  sons.  Most  of  the 
Homeric  deities  have  their  counterparts  in  the  mythology 
of  the  North,  which  has  its  Olympus  (Asgard),  and  as 
the  gods  of  Homer  regaled  and  renewed  themselves  by 
J  means  of  nectar,  so  these  gods  of  the  frozen  zone,  not 
immortal  in  themselves,  renewed  their  vigor  by  eating  the 
apples  of  Iduna.  In  practice  this  religion  was  coarser, 
more  provocative  of  violence  and  cruelty,  than  the  relig- 
ion of  the  Greeks;  but  as  an  offset,  there  was  far  less 
of  deliberate  sensuality,  the  wallowing  in  vices  unnam- 
able,  among  these  northern  tribes.  To  gluttony  and 
drunkenness  they  were  more  prone  than  to  any  other 
sins  of  the  flesh. 

The  Northmen  were  a  hardy  and  vigorous  race.  In 
their  climate  life  was  one  fierce  struggle  for  existence, 
in  which  all  but  the  strong,  the  vigorous,  the  brave,  speed- 
ily succumbed.  The  law  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest  had 
here  a  fine  illustration,  and  the  men  were  tall,  strong- 
limbed,  active,  and  the  women  were  fair.  Both  charac- 
teristics are  so  uniformly  mentioned  by  all  who  beheld 
these  people  for  the  first  time  as  to  leave  no  doubt  that 
physically  they  were  a  most  remarkable  race.  And  they 
had  virtues  corresponding.  Bravery  was  a  matter  of 
course;  even  the  women  possessed  that  quality,  and  for 
a  man  to  lack  it  was  unknown.  But  the  men  were  also 
truthful,  not  only  speaking  the  truth  but  keeping  their 
engagements  faithfully.  The  women  were  modest  and 
chaste,  good  homekeepers,  and  more  nearly  the  social 
equals  of  the  men  than  we  find  them  in  other  uncivilized 
tribes. 

These  people  first  became  known  to  the  rest  of  Europe 
through  their  predatory  warfare  along  the  coasts.  The 
pressure  of  population  on  the  means  of  subsistence  about 


128  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

the  eighth  century  had  come  to  be  so  great  that  the 
Northmen  in  large  numbers  became  what  we  call  pirates. 
But  let  us  remember  that  what  the  civilized  world  calls 
piracy  was  legitimate  warfare  in  the  Dark  Ages.  Then 
every  tribe  was  at  war  with  every  other  tribe;  and  to 
descend  on  a  peaceful  coast,  kill  the  men,  burn  the  houses, 
and  carry  ofT  as  many  young  women,  domestic  animals, 
and  other  plunder  as  the  ship  would  hold,  was  as  praise- 
worthy an  act  as  a  successful  cavalry  raid  into  the  ene- 
mies' country  in  time  of  war  is  to-day.  We  may  shudder 
at  the  loss  of  life  and  regret  that  the  exigencies  of  a  cam- 
paign  require  such  destruction  of  property,  but  we  never 
think  to  condemn  the  raid  as  a  crime.  It  is  justified,  we 
say,  by  the  hard  laws  of  war.  Precisely  so  thought  the 
Norman  pirate  of  his  raids.  The  world  has  moved  and 
the  moral  standard  has  risen  in  the  course  of  a  thousand 
years.  It  may  be  that  in  another  millennium,  if  the  world 
stands  so  long,  the  wars  of  the  nineteenth  century  will 
be  regarded  with  as  much  moral  reprobation  as  we  visit 
on  the  raids  of  the  Northmen. 

It  was  natural  that  the  attempt  to  Christianize  this 
people  should  be  postponed  until  the  rest  of  Europe  had 
been  evangelized.  For  one  thing,  they  were  compara- 
tively inaccessible  and  unknown.  The  little  that  was 
known  was  not  of  a  kind  to  tempt  many  men  to  venture 
their  lives  among  a  people  so  rude  and  so  fierce.  Never- 
theless, early  in  the  ninth  century  the  time  had  evidently 
come  for  such  a  missionary  enterprise.  Harold,  king  of 
the  Danes,  had  entered  into  friendly  relations  with  Charle- 
magne; and  on  a  visit  to  the  emperor  (Louis  the  Pious) 
in  826,  was  persuaded  to  profess  himself  a  convert  to 
Christianity,  and  he  and  his  wife  and  a  numerous  train 
of  followers  were  then  baptized  with  great  pomp.  When 
Harold  prepared  to  return  home,  he  requested — or  pos- 
sibly the  emperor  suggested — that  a  zealous  priest  should 


ANSGAR  129 

accompany  him  to  confirm  him  in  his  new  faith  and  to 
preach  the  gospel  to  the  Danes.  The  emergency  brought 
forth  the  man,  a  young  monk  named  Ansgar. 

He  who  was  to  be  the  Apostle  of  the  North  was  born 
in  France,  in  the  diocese  of  Amiens,  in  the  year  801.  He 
had  a  pious  mother,  and  though  he  lost  her  before  he  was 
five  years  old,  she  had  managed  to  instil  into  his  mind  the 
fundamentals  of  Christianity.  From  the  dawn  of  intel- 
ligence, Ansgar  seems  to  have  been  inclined  to  the  serv- 
ice of  God.  He  was  by  nature  fitted  for  the  contem- 
plative life,  and  in  childhood  was  accustomed  to  withdraw 
from  his  companions  for  religious  meditation.  In  these 
solitary  communings  he  believed  that  he  saw  visions  of 
the  heavenly  world.  He  saw  his  mother  on  one  occa- 
sion, who  said  to  him,  "  My  son,  wilt  thou  come  to  thy 
mother  ?  "  And  when  he  answered  her  eagerly  that  he 
was  anxious  to  do  so,  she  replied,  "  If  thou  wishest  to 
come  to  our  company  thou  must  guard  against  all  vain 
waywardness,  and  diligently  pursue  a  serious  course  of 
conduct."  On  another  occasion  he  believed  that  he  was 
uplifted  into  the  very  presence  of  Him  whom  even  the 
angels  desire  to  behold.  "  There  was  neither  sun  nor 
moon  to  give  light  there,"  he  says,  "  nor  any  appearance 
of  heaven  or  earth.  But  the  brightness  of  the  trans- 
parent ether  was  such  that  instead  of  being  the  least  op- 
pressive, it  refreshed  the  eye,  satisfying  the  souls  of  all 
with  inexpressible  bliss.  And  from  the  midst  of  that 
immeasurable  light,  a  heavenly  voice  addressed  me,  say- 
ing, *  Go,  and  return  to  me  again  crowned  with  martyr- 
dom.* "  At  another  time,  being  much  concerned  about 
his  sins,  he  confessed  them  to  Christ,  and  received  as- 
surance that  he  was  forgiven.  Then  inquiring,  "  Lord, 
what  wouldst  thou  have  me  to  do  ?  "  he  was  told,  "  Go, 
preach  the  word  of  God  to  the  tribes  of  the  heathen." 

The  devout  monks  who  have  repeated  these  and  other 


130  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

marvels  find  in  them  abundant  proofs  of  the  miraculous. 
We,  even  if  we  accept  them  as  coming  to  us  from 
Ansgar  himself,  are  not  compelled  to  see  in  them  more 
than  the  workings  of  a  sincerely  pious  and  exceptionally 
ingenuous  soul.  Ansgar  had  no  doubt  heard  of  the  mis- 
sionary labors  of  Columban,  of  Augustine,  of  Boniface, 
especially  of  the  last.  Nothing  was  more  natural  than 
that  he  should  feel  himself  called  to  a  similar  work. 
Probably  there  were  hundreds  of  young  men  of  his  time 
who  felt  within  them  the  stirrings  of  a  like  holy  ambi- 
tion, and  many  of  them,  as  we  know,  did  become  mission- 
aries. Ansgar  differed  from  the  rest  only  in  being  more 
highly  endowed,  and  in  being  therefore  intended  by 
divine  providence  for  a  larger  work. 

But  this  was  still  years  in  the  future.  A  time  of  prep- 
aration, of  discipline,  was  necessary;  and,  according  to 
the  ideas  of  his  time,  this  could  be  had  only  in  a  monas- 
tery. Ansgar  was  indeed  called  to  the  celibate  life, 
if  any  man  of  his  generation  was;  had  all  monks  been 
such  as  he,  the  institution  of  monachism  would  have  had 
a  very  different  history  for  later  times  to  record.  The 
convent  of  Corbie,  near  the  place  where  he  was  born,  was 
one  of  high  repute  in  France  in  his  day,  and  he  entered 
it  as  a  novice  at  an  early  age,  and  in  due  time  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  brotherhood.  He  was  an  exemplary  mem- 
ber of  the  order,  and  when  several  years  later  it  was 
deemed  advisable  to  send  out  part  of  the  monks  to  found 
a  new  monastery,  he  was  one  of  those  selected. 

And  here  T  must  once  more  remark  that  a  monastic 
community  of  this  period  was  a  co-operative  society  or- 
ganized for  agricultural  and  industrial  enterprises  as  well 
as  for  religious  service.  The  monk  was  expected  to  spend 
one-third  of  his  day  in  toil.  Monastic  communities  like 
this  went  forth  into  the  wilderness  and  became  the  pio- 
neers of  civilization.    They  felled  the  forests,  drained  the 


ANSGAR  131 

swamps  and  fens,  brought  the  land  under  cultivation, 
made  clothing  and  household  articles,  not  only  sufficient 
for  their  own  use,  but  with  the  surplus  supplied  the  com- 
munity about  them.  They  were  an  object-lesson  of  the 
value  of  thrift  and  industry,  in  an  age  when  manual 
labor  was  despised  and  considered  fit  only  for  serfs  and 
peasants. 

In  the  arduous  labors  of  making  the  new  home  of  his 
order,  Ansgar  obtained  an  experience  of  the  hardships 
likely  to  be  encountered  by  a  pioneer  missionary,  his 
patience  and  endurance  being  both  put  to  severe  tests. 
He  so  completely  satisfied  his  superiors  of  his  fitness  for 
greater  tasks,  that  when  his  abbot  heard  of  the  demand 
for  a  missionary  priest  to  accompany  King  Harold  to  his 
Denmark  home,  he  at  once  informed  the  emperor  that  he 
knew  a  man  who  desired  nothing  so  much  as  to  preach 
the  gospel  of  Christ  to  the  heathen. 

And  yet  it  was  in  no  spirit  of  vain  self-confidence  that 
Ansgar  prepared  himself  for  this  mission  when  he  knew 
it  was  likely  to  be  assigned  to  him.  He  spent  his  days 
and  nights  in  retirement  in  a  vineyard,  where  he  read  the 
Scriptures  diligently  and  prayed  much  that  God  would 
fit  him  for  his  great  calling.  With  fear  and  trembling 
as  regarded  himself,  with  strong  faith  in  God  and  unfal- 
tering dependence  upon  him,  he  went  forth.  Many  tried 
in  vain  to  intimidate  and  dishearten  him  by  representing 
the  dangers  and  hardships  he  must  encounter;  but  one 
other  monk,  Authbert,  was  willing  to  accompany  him, 
and  the  abbot  very  properly  declined  to  require  any,  by 
virtue  of  their  vow  of  obedience,  to  undertake  a  service  so 
exceptionally  difficult  and  even  dangerous. 

The  emperor  generously  provided  them  with  whatever 
was  necessary  for  their  mission,  and  dismissed  them  with 
many  pious  exhortations.  Their  reception  in  Denmark 
was  cold,  but  not  hostile.    The  first  two  years  were  spent 


132  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

in  faithful  preaching.  Later  accounts  represent  that 
many  were  converted,  but  Ansgar  himself  made  no  such 
claim,  and  from  subsequent  events  it  would  clearly  ap- 
pear that  the  results  of  this  preaching  were  meager  in- 
deed. The  one  thing  certain  in  the  way  of  fruits  is  that 
the  missionaries  established  a  school  for  the  education 
of  heathen  children,  believing  that  by  thus  training  teach- 
ers for  their  countrymen  they  could  in  the  end  most  rap- 
idly advance  the  cause  of  Christianity.  This  is  the  first 
time  we  meet  in  the  history  of  Christian  missions  a  ten- 
dency to  put  education  in  place  of  evangelization,  but  we 
shall  meet  it  many  times  hereafter. 

The  king  of  the  Danes  had  made  himself  unpopular 
among  his  subjects  by  embracing  Christianity  and  show- 
ing favors  to  the  missionaries,  and  about  two  years  after 
Ansgar  arrived  in  the  country  this  unpopularity  had  so 
increased  that  the  king  was  driven  into  France.  Ansgar 
was  no  longer  safe;  his  companion  had  been  taken  sick 
and  compelled  to  return  to  France.  While  the  lone 
preacher  did  not  fear  martyrdom,  even  hoped  for  it  as 
the  end  of  his  career,  he  did  not  feel  at  liberty  to  seek  it. 
And  just  at  this  juncture,  certain  envoys  from  Sweden 
to  the  Emperor  Louis,  represented  to  him  that  that  coun- 
try was  ripe  for  the  gospel  and  would  welcome  preachers 
of  it.  The  information  was  not  altogether  correct.  The 
seeds  of  Christianity  had  indeed  already  been  planted 
in  Sweden,  but  there  was  no  general  readiness  to  receive 
the  truth.  When  the  emperor  proposed  to  Ansgar  that  he 
should  undertake  this  mission,  however,  the  latter  de- 
clared his  willingness  to  undertake  that  or  anything  else 
for  the  glory  of  Christ.  On  the  voyage  thither,  he  and 
his  comrades  were  attacked  by  pirates  and  thought  them- 
selves happy  to  escape  with  their  bare  lives.  He  landed 
in  Sweden,  was  permitted  by  the  king  to  preach  and  bap- 
tize, and  in  a  little  time  made  some  influential  converts. 


ANSGAR  133 

Had  he  remained  here  continuously,  it  is  possible  that  the 
church  in  Sweden  would  have  made  rapid  and  continuous 
progress.  Ansgar,  however,  could  not  altogether  forget 
the  Danes,  among  whom  his  mission  began  and  who  seem 
to  the  last  to  have  been  first  in  his  affections.  After  a 
stay  in  Sweden  of  about  a  year  and  a  half,  he  returned 
to  France,  and  by  his  persuasions  the  emperor  founded  a 
metropolis  at  Hamburg  to  serve  as  a  center  of  future 
missionary  operations. 

Thus  far,  though  we  have  no  reason  to  doubt  that 
Ansgar  was  an  obedient  son  of  the  church,  we  do  not  find 
him  in  any  special  connection  with  Rome.  Some  time  in 
the  year  829  he  visited  Rome  for  the  first  and  only  occa- 
sion in  his  life,  to  obtain  the  sanction  of  the  pope  for  his 
missionary  enterprises.  Gregory  IV  was  prompt  to  see 
the  advantage  of  complying  with  this  request.  There 
were  great  possibilities  of  extension  of  the  territory  and 
influence  of  the  church  in  this  mission.  H  Ansgar  him- 
self succeeded  in  accomplishing  but  little,  his  successors 
might  accomplish  much,  and  by  taking  control  of  the 
work  at  the  outset  the  Roman  Church  acquired  all  the 
advantage  of  de  facto  possession  of  the  field.  Accordingly 
the  pope  raised  Ansgar  to  the  dignity  of  archbishop  by 
conferring  on  him  the  pallium,  and  gave  him  full  au- 
thority, in  connection  with  Archbishop  Ebbo,  to  preach 
the  gospel  to  the  nations  of  the  North.  This  was  but 
pushing  to  its  logical  completion  the  work  that  was  begun 
by  Augustine  and  Boniface.  Ansgar  is  entitled  to  less 
credit  of  originality  than  either  of  his  forerunners,  but 
he  was  efficient  in  his  own  sphere. 

The  mention  of  these  names,  especially  that  of  Boni- 
face, suggests  a  comparison  of  the  men.  Boniface  was 
a  man  of  the  Petrine  type,  bold,  rugged,  prompt  of 
speech,  a  man  of  power  certainly,  but  likely  to  commit  the 
faults  to  which  those   of   impetuous   spirit   are  prone. 


134  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

Ansgar  was  as  clearly  of  the  Johannine  type,  a  character 
sometimes  mistakenly  supposed  to  be  weak  because  its 
strength  is  veiled  in  meekness.  Quiet  where  Boniface 
was  impetuous,  deliberate  when  the  other  was  sudden  to 
act,  less  urgent  of  speech  but  on  that  account  more 
weighty,  a  man  given  to  contemplation,  conquering  by 
love  rather  than  by  force,  such  was  Ansgar  as  he  shows 
himself  in  his  deeds  and  words. 

His  power  was  well  shown  in  Denmark  after  his  return 
from  Rome.  Horik  (Erich),  who  had  succeeded  Harold 
as  king,  was  a  violent  opponent  of  the  Christians,  espe- 
cially of  missionaries.  Nevertheless  by  prayer  and  love 
and  tact,  Ansgar  at  length  obtained  a  complete  dominance 
over  this  rude  opponent  and  made  him  his  willing  ally. 
It  does  not  appear  that  Horik  ever  became  a  professed 
Christian,  but  that  he  in  time  came  to  aid  Ansgar  in  this 
work  is  beyond  question.  Indeed,  so  fully  did  he  confide 
in  the  missionary,  that  at  length  he  made  Ansgar  sole 
envoy  between  himself  and  the  emperor  in  their  frequent 
negotiations. 

In  this  way  the  Apostle  of  the  North  labored  for  many 
years,  with  varying  degrees  of  success,  but  on  the  whole 
with  steady  progress  of  the  gospel  among  the  Danes. 
Now  and  then  he  seemed  on  the  point  of  losing  all  that 
he  had  gained,  as  when  a  fire  destroyed  buildings  in  which 
he  had  put  the  collections  of  years ;  and  there  were  occa- 
sional times  of  persecution,  as  well  as  difficulties  innu- 
merable to  be  overcome  with  unfailing  patience.  In  the 
meantime  the  Swedish  mission  had  languished,  and  at 
one  time  seemed  almost  destroyed.  At  times  other  work- 
ers had  been  sent,  with  only  moderate  success,  and  finally 
Ansgar  himself  was  called  to  make  a  second  visit  to  that 
country  in  the  year  853.  He  gained  the  good-will  of 
King  Olaf  at  the  very  beginning,  and  it  was  agreed  that 
the  question  of  giving  the  missionaries  freedom  to  labor 


ANSGAR  135 

in  the  country  should  be  submitted  to  his  council.  First 
the  gods  were  invoked  by  lot,  and  the  lot  was  favorable. 
Then  the  council  were  asked  to  decide  the  matter.  There 
was  a  heated  discussion,  but  at  length  an  aged  warrior 
stepped  forward  and  said: 

Hear  me,  king  and  people ;  many  of  us,  no  doubt,  have  already 
been  informed  that  this  god  can  be  of  great  help  to  those  who 
hope  in  him;  for  many  of  us  here  have  had  experience  of  this  in 
dangers  at  sea,  and  in  manifold  straits.  Why  then  should  we 
spurn  what  is  necessary  and  useful  to  us?  Once  several  of  us 
traveled,  for  the  sake  of  this  religion,  to  Dorstede,  and  there 
embraced  it  uninvited.  At  present  the  seas  have  become  dan- 
gerous by  piracy.  Why  then  should  we  not  embrace  what  we 
once  felt  constrained  to  seek  in  distant  parts,  now  that  it  is 
offered  at  our  doors? 

The  assembly  was  won  by  this  presentation  of  the  case, 
and  voted  to  allow  the  missionaries  freedom  of  action. 
This  assembly  represented  but  a  part  of  the  people,  but 
not  long  after  another  assembly,  representing  the  other 
part  of  Sweden,  was  equally  favorable.  Having  obtained 
this  important  concession,  which  was  never  revoked,  and 
having  set  the  affairs  of  the  church  in  order  and  left 
fitting  persons  in  charge,  Ansgar  returned  to  Denmark. 

Here  he  spent  the  rest  of  his  life  in  humble  labors  in 
the  cause  so  dear  to  his  heart.  Thirty-four  years  in  all 
he  gave  to  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  to  the  heathen. 
His  repute  for  sanctity  was  high,  and  in  consequence  of 
superstitions  already  becoming  common  in  the  church, 
the  sick  from  far  and  near  resorted  to  him  for  his  pray- 
ers that  they  might  be  healed.  His  biographers  attribute 
many  miracles  of  healing  to  him,  but  he  himself  never 
gave  countenance  to  such  notions.  To  one  who  in  his 
presence  once  intimated  that  he  possessed  miraculous 
powers,  he  replied  with  as  much  sternness  as  seemed  pos- 
sible to  him,  "  Could  I  deem  myself  worthy  of  such  a 


136  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

favor  of  the  Lord,  I  would  pray  him  to  vouchsafe  me 
but  this  one  miracle,  that  out  of  me  by  his  grace  he  would 
make  a  good  man." 

In  his  sixty-fifth  year  he  was  smitten  by  a  fatal  disease. 
As  he  lingered  for  some  months,  his  only  regret  seems 
to  have  been  that  realization  of  his  early  vision  had  been 
denied  him ;  he  was  not  to  have  the  crown  of  martyrdom 
in  behalf  of  his  Lord.  And  yet  what  witness  to  the  truth, 
even  though  borne  at  the  stake  or  on  the  scaffold,  is  more 
convincing,  more  worthy  to  be  crowned  with  the  honor 
of  mankind,  than  the  testimony  of  thirty-four  years  of 
daily  dying  for  the  Lord  Jesus?  Of  himself,  beyond 
this,  he  thought  nothing;  his  last  thoughts  were  for  his 
missions,  for  the  salvation  of  the  heathen  to  whom  he  had 
given  his  life.  Repeating  as  long  as  he  could  speak, 
"  Lord,  be  merciful  to  me  a  sinner ;  into  thy  hands  I 
commit  my  spirit,"  he  fell  on  sleep  on  the  third  day  of 
February,  865. 

Ansgar  was  a  man,  and  therefore  sinful,  but  if  there 
was  in  his  life  any  act  that  calls  for  special  apology,  ex- 
planation, defense,  or  charitable  silence,  he  has  been  for- 
tunate in  that  nobody  has  recorded  it.  There  are  few 
more  saintly  characters  in  history,  and  we  can  give  him 
our  almost  unqualified  admiration.  His  connection  with 
the  Roman  Church  was  a  necessity  of  the  case,  and  he 
kept  himself  from  its  worst  errors,  nor  were  those  errors 
in  his  day  as  gross  as  they  afterward  became.  He  was 
himself  a  genuine  follower  of  Christ — of  that  his  life 
makes  it  impossible  for  us  to  cherish  a  doubt.  His  errors 
in  belief  and  practice  seem  to  us  venial  when  we  place 
against  them  his  Christlike  spirit,  his  devotion  to  the  gos- 
pel, his  disinterestedness,  his  sweet  and  charitable  spirit, 
his  diligence  in  all  good  works.  By  his  fruits  we  judge 
him  to  have  been  one  in  whom  the  Spirit  of  God  dwelt 
richly. 


ANSGAR  137 

1  have  called  Ansgar  a  pioneer  missionary.  That 
exactly  describes  his  work  and  measures  his  influence. 
He  was  not  permitted  to  live  to  see  the  fruition  of  his 
labors.  His  work  was  the  laying  of  foundations;  other 
men  built  on  his  foundation  the  superstructure  of  Cath- 
olic Christianity.  Denmark  and  Sweden  were  slowly 
evangelized,  and  in  the  course  of  two  centuries  at  least 
nominally  converted  to  Christianity.  The  work  in  Nor- 
way was  begun  about  a  century  after  the  death  of  Ansgar, 
the  chief  agent  being  not  a  priest,  but  Prince  Hakon,  who 
had  received  a  Christian  education  in  England.  Thus  all 
Scandinavia  acknowledged  the  law  of  Christ,  though  the 
formal  acknowledgment  was  followed  by  comparatively 
slight  obedience. 

To  the  religion  thus  planted  in  these  countries,  such  as 
it  was,  must  be  given  one  praise:  it  was  a  missionary 
religion.  These  people  when  evangelized  were  not  un- 
mindful of  their  duty  to  give  the  gospel  to  the  regions 
beyond.  As  the  enterprising  Northmen  sailed  the  seas 
and  colonized  lands,  they  carried  their  religion  with  them 
and  taught  it.  In  this  way  Iceland  and  Greenland  re- 
ceived the  gospel  in  the  tenth  century.  Nay,  there  is  evi- 
dence, though  we  cannot  now  consider  it  in  detail,  that 
colonies  were  planted  along  the  coast  of  North  America 
as  far  south  as  Long  Island,  and  that  the  object  of  these 
colonies  was  as  much  religious  as  worldly  gain.  Accounts 
yet  survive  in  the  sagas  of  these  voyages  and  colonies, 
and  these  are  confirmed  by  some  remaining  monuments. 
A  recent  historian  says  of  this  subject : 

The  fact  of  medieval  exploration,  colonization,  and  even  evan- 
gelization in  North  America,  seems  now  to  have  emerged  from 
the  region  of  fanciful  conjecture  into  that  of  history.  That  for 
four  centuries,  ending  with  the  fifteenth,  the  Church  of  Iceland 
maintained  its  bishops  and  other  missionaries  and  built  its 
churches  and  monasteries  on  the  frozen  coast  of  Greenland  is 


138  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

abundantly  proved  by  documents  and  monuments.  Dim  but 
seemingly  unmistakable  traces  are  now  discovered  of  enterprises, 
not  only  of  exploration  and  trade,  but  also  of  evangelization, 
reaching  along  the  mainland  southward  to  the  shore  of  New 
England.  There  are  vague  indications  that  these  beginnings  of 
Christian  civilization  were  extinguished,  as  in  so  many  later  in- 
stances, by  savage  massacre.  With  impressive  coincidence  the 
latest  vestige  of  this  primeval  Christianity  fades  out  in  the  very 
year  of  the  discovery  of  America  by  Columbus. 

The  Old  World  was  thus  in  contact  with  the  New  ages 
before  it  became  conscious  of  the  existence  of  a  New 
World.  In  the  providence  of  God  this  secret  was  con- 
cealed from  Rome  until  Protestantism  was  ready  to  take 
the  leading  part  in  the  colonization  and  civilizing  of  this 
continent.  If  Rome  had  understood  her  opportunity,  if 
she  had  comprehended  that  here  was  a  continent  on  which 
Gregory's  policy  might  be  still  further  extended,  the 
history  of  the  world  would  have  been  different.  By  a 
narrow  margin  only  the  New  World  was  saved  from 
being  as  completely  Romanized  as  the  Old. 

For  this  is  the  significance  of  Ansgar's  career,  that  he 
marks  the  completion  in  Europe  of  the  far-reaching 
policy  of  the  great  Gregory.  Rome  had  seen  her  oppor- 
tunity in  the  Old  World,  and  without  haste,  without  rest, 
she  had  pressed  forward  to  the  full  utilization  of  it.  On 
the  south  her  development  was  cut  off  by  the  Great 
Desert  and  by  the  Mohammedan  power  that  had  over- 
whelmed Africa  in  the  seventh  century,  and  to  this  day 
has  not  been  dislodged.  On  the  east  the  Greek  Church 
still  held  possession  of  what  Christian  domains  had  been 
saved  from  the  advancing  hosts  of  Mohammed's  follow- 
ers. There  had  been  one  possibility  of  development: 
northern  and  western  Europe  were  a  possible  conquest 
of  Rome,  and  she  had  conquered  this  vast  domain.  It  re- 
mained now  only  to  consolidate  her  conquests,  to  reap  the 
fruits  of  victory,  to  extend  the  dominion  of  the  popes 


ANSGAR  139 

over  all  this  region,  and  realize  the  dream  of  one  church 
that  should  at  least  be  European  if  not  world-wide  in 
extent  and  power.  Augustine,  Boniface,  and  Ansgar  had 
made  possible,  even  inevitable,  Hildebrand,  Innocent  III, 
and  Boniface  VIII.  The  Roman  missions  had  their 
logical  sequel  in  the  Roman  papacy. 


VIII 

VLADIMIR: 
THE  CONVERSION   OF  THE  SLAVS 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

The  chief  source  for  the  early  history  of  the  Russian  Church 
is  Nestor,  the  monk  of  Kiew.  Part  of  his  work  has  been  trans- 
lated into  German  by  Schlozer  (five  vols.,  Gottingen,  1802-9). 
The  Byzantine  sources  have  been  edited  by  Stritter,  Memories 
Populorum  Olim  ad  Danubium,  etc.,  Incolentium  (four  vols., 
Petropoli,  1771).  There  are  several  modern  histories  of  the 
Russian  Church  that  tell  the  story  of  Vladimir's  conversion : 
Mouravieff,  History  of  the  Church  of  Russia,  to  the  founding  of 
the  Holy  Synod,  in  1721  (Oxford,  1862)  ;  Strahl,  Geschichte  der 
Kussichen  Kirche  (Halle,  1830)  ;  Stanley,  Lectures  on  the  His- 
tory of  the  Eastern  Church,  Lect.  IX  (New  York,  1884)  J  Hore, 
Eighteen  Centuries  of  the  Orthodox  Greek  Church,  pp.  400-407 
(London,  1884).  Some  attention  is  also  given  to  the  subject  by 
the  standard  church  histories:  Neander,  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  327-330; 
Schaff,  Vol.  IV,  pp.  138-142.  On  the  whole,  however,  the  litera- 
ture available,  especially  in  English,  is  rather  scanty  and  not 
altogether  satisfactory. 


VIII 

VLADIMIR:   THE    CONVERSION    OF   THE   SLAVS 

IN  the  discussion  thus  far,  we  have  traced  the  history 
of  Christian  missions,  beginning  with  the  age  of  the 
apostles  to  the  complete  conquest  of  northern  and  western 
Europe  by  the  Church  of  Rome.  Inasmuch  as  this  was 
one  continuous  movement,  inspired  by  a  single  idea,  and 
in  great  measure  isolated  from  the  history  of  Christianity 
in  the  East,  it  has  seemed  best  to  treat  the  subject  con- 
tinuously, with  disregard  of  exact  chronological  relations. 
Less  mental  confusion  will  result  from  this  method  of 
study  than  by  pursuing  the  once  popular  method  of  study 
by  centuries,  carefully  placing  all  events  in  their  exact 
order  of  occurrence. 

But  it  is  time  now  to  consider  another  set  of  facts,  to 
study  another  great  missionary  movement,  altogether  dif- 
ferent in  origin,  in  spirit,  in  methods,  in  results,  yet  from 
any  point  of  view  hardly  less  interesting  or  important 
than  the  evangelizing  of  western  Europe;  while  if  we 
look  at  results  in  the  present,  or  forecast  what  is  likely  to 
occur  in  the  future,  the  missionary  movement  that  we  are 
'about  to  study  has  not  a  few  claims  to  be  considered  the 
greatest  in  the  history  of  Christianity.  It  is  the  evangeli- 
zation of  central  and  eastern  Europe  by  the  Greek 
Church  that  now  demands  our  examination. 

The  field  of  this  evangelization  was  the  great  Slav 
race.  The  origin  and  ethnological  affinities  of  this  race 
are  still  subjects  of  dispute  among  the  learned,  but  the 
theory  that  finds  most  acceptance  is  that  it  is  a  branch 
of  the  Aryan  family  whose  original  home  was  on  the 

143 


144  CHRISTIAN   EPOCH-MAKERS 

northern  bank  of  the  Oxus.  Over  the  plains  of  Scythia 
the  Slavs  came  as  the  last  w^ave  of  that  great  tide  of 
immigration  into  Europe  before  the  earliest  historic 
records,  driving  before  them  the  Germans  and  Scandi- 
navians, as  these  had  previously  driven  the  Kelts.  From 
the  earliest  times  their  race  characteristics  have  been  such 
as  we  find  them  to-day.  They  are  an  agricultural  people, 
with  simple  virtues  and  vices,  not  intellectual — some 
would  call  them  stupid  and  dull,  because  of  the  compara- 
tive slowness  of  their  mental  operations.  They  are  a 
notably  docile  people,  easily  taught  within  certain  limits, 
and  naturally  submissive  to  authority,  which  they  blindly 
follow  for  good  or  ill.  They  are  a  people  strongly  in- 
clined to  piety,  very  devoted  to  religion  as  they  have  been 
taught  its  doctrines  and  duties.  But  no  people  is  more 
tenacious  of  ancient  customs,  and  sheer  unreasoning, 
dogged  conservatism  has  its  stronghold  among  the  Slavs. 
While  they  are  mild  and  peace-loving  and  crimes  against 
person  or  property  are  rare  among  them,  they  are  almost 
universally  given  to  certain  vices,  chief  among  which  are 
drunkenness  and  gambling.  A  glass  of  vodka  (brandy) 
and  a  game  of  chance  are  two  things  that  few  Russians 
can  resist. 

The  Slav  race  was  early  divided  into  many  nationali- 
ties, and  at  the  period  at  which  the  evangelization  of  these 
peoples  began  there  were  recognized  as  distinct  nations 
or  kingdoms,  Bulgarians,  Moravians,  Bohemians,  Wends, 
Poles,  and  Russians.  Possibly  curious  study  might  dis- 
cover other  subdivisions,  but  the  recognition  of  these  is 
sufficient  for  our  purpose.  It  is  impossible  to  make  even 
an  estimate  of  the  numbers  of  these  various  nations  dur- 
ing the  Middle  Ages ;  with  modem  facilities  only  an  ap- 
proximate census  of  the  race  can  be  made.  There  is  no 
reason  to  suppose  that  the  Slavs  were  inferior  in  numbers 
or  in  prowess  to  their  neighbors,  the  Germans. 


VLADIMIR 


145 


Less  attention  has  been  given  to  the  evangeHzation  of 
the  Slavs  than  the  importance  of  the  subject  warrants  or 
even  demands.  There  are  several  patent  reasons  for  this. 
During  the  medieval  period  the  West  and  the  East  were 
mutually  ignorant  of  each  other,  and  well  content  to  be 
so.  Western  Europe  knew  only  Latin,  as  the  language 
of  books,  and  knew  only  the  Roman  form  of  Christianity. 
That  its  literature  should  be  nearly  silent  about  mis- 
sionary achievements  in  which  Rome  bore  small  part,  the 
original  records  of  which  were  to  be  found  in  Greek  or 
in  tongues  regarded  as  barbarous,  is  only  what  is  to  be 
expected.  Even  to  this  day  few  scholars  are  fitted  by 
their  linguistic  acquirements  to  pursue  original  researches 
into  the  history  of  Eastern  Christianity.  For  the  most 
part,  the  scholars  of  western  Europe  and  of  America  are 
compelled  to  take  their  knowledge  at  second  hand,  know- 
ing that  it  must  be  imperfect — or,  worse  still,  in  many 
cases  positively  misleading — yet  unable  to  verify  much 
of  it  by  study  of  the  sources  at  first  hand.  We  can  be 
certain  only  of  the  accuracy  of  the  chief  facts,  of  the 
general  trend  of  the  movement.  We  are  still  as  one  who 
gazes  at  a  landscape  through  a  haze  that  permits  him  to 
see  its  main  features,  the  outlines  of  hill  and  valley  and 
winding  river,  but  forbids  him  to  penetrate  to  the  details. 

Another  thing  that  makes  our  present  study  different 
from  those  in  which  we  have  previously  engaged  is  the 
absence  of  plan,  of  design,  in  this  evangelization.  It  was 
natural  indeed  that  the  Greek  Church  should  make  some 
attempts  to  Christianize  these  heathen.  The  Slavs  were 
at  their  very  doors,  almost  a  menace  to  the  continuance 
of  the  empire  and  the  church.  Both  prudence  and  Chris- 
tian impulse  prompted  the  sending  of  the  gospel  to  the 
nearest  of  them  at  least.  But  there  was  no  Gregory  in 
Constantinople  to  perceive  the  greatness  of  the  oppor- 
tunity that  had  opened  to  the  church  of  the  East  for  the 


146  CHRISTIAN   EPOCH-MAKERS 

extension  of  its  influence,  as  well  as  the  gospel.  Among 
the  patriarchs  of  Constantinople  there  were  no  powerful 
and  enterprising  prelates  like  Gregory's  successors  to  con- 
tinue with  energy  and  persistence  a  great  missionary 
policy,  had  there  been  a  Gregory  to  originate  it.  The 
feeble  echoes  of  the  emperors,  the  patriarchs  were  con- 
tent to  spend  their  lives  in  squabbles  with  their  own 
bishops,  varied  with  an  occasional  battle  with  the  Roman 
bishop,  who  arrogantly  claimed  the  title  of  pope,  which 
the  patriarch  of  the  East  as  arrogantly  refused  to  recog- 
nize. There  is  nothing  here  to  relieve  the  pettiness  of 
clericalism,  as  in  the  West,  by  an  occasional  glimpse  of 
breadth  of  view,  largeness  of  soul,  capacity  for  reforma- 
tion, a  spirit  of  progress.  And  accordingly,  so  far  as 
regards  the  church  of  the  East,  what  came  about  in  the 
evangelization  of  the  Slavs  was  largely  accidental,  in  the 
sense  that  it  was  undesigned  and  unforeseen.  It  was 
according  to  God's  plan  that  this  work  should  be  accom- 
plished, but  as  for  the  heads  of  the  Eastern  Church  they 
had  no  plan,  were  incapable  of  forming  one,  and  were 
too  nerveless  to  have  executed  any  that  they  did  form. 

The  first  of  the  missionary  labors  among  the  Slavs  was 
performed  among  the  Bulgarians.  The  Bulgarians  proper 
were  not  Slavonic,  but  had  conquered  a  Slavonic  people, 
given  their  name  to  the  region,  and  gradually  become 
incorporated  with  the  conquered  race,  as  Normans  were 
amalgamated  with  Saxons  in  England.  Early  in  the  ninth 
century  a  sister  of  the  Bulgarian  prince,  Bogoris,  fell  into 
the  hands  of  the  emperor  and  was  for  a  time  a  captive  at 
Constantinople,  where  she  was  instructed  in  the  truths 
of  Christianity,  made  profession  of  faith,  and  was  bap- 
tized. Prince  Bogoris  not  long  after  captured  a  monk, 
who  endeavored  to  make  a  Christian  of  his  captor,  but 
failed.  The  two  captives  were  afterward  exchanged, 
and  the  sister  of  Bogoris  accomplished  what  the  monk 


VLADIMIR  147 

had  failed  to  do;  her  brother  consented  to  give  up  his 
heathen  gods  and  become  a  Christian.  Photius,  the 
patriarch  of  Constantinople,  baptized  him. 

From  this  time  the  progress  of  the  gospel  was  steady, 
but  there  seemed  at  one  time  a  prospect  that  Rome  rather 
than  Constantinople  would  secure  the  allegiance  of  the 
Bulgarians.  There  were  frequent  difficulties  between 
the  Bulgarian  prince  and  the  emperor,  and  during  one 
of  these  an  appeal  was  made  for  religious  counsel  to  the 
bishop  of  Rome.  Nicholas  I  was  then  pope,  and  this 
astute  prelate  did  not  neglect  the  opportunity.  He  gave 
good  counsel  indeed,  but  artfully  contrived  to  insinuate 
the  claims  of  Rome  to  the  affection  and  obedience  of  Bul- 
garian Christians.  He  was  nearly  successful  in  his  proj- 
ect, and  it  was  only  by  strenuous  effort  that  the  indignant 
patriarch  of  Constantinople  finally  succeeded  in  persua- 
ding the  Bulgarians  to  unite  themselves  with  the  Byzan- 
tine Church  and  receive  from  Constantinople  an  arch- 
bishop for  their  nation. 

The  next  advance  of  Christianity  among  the  Slavs  was 
in  Moravia,  and  its  consequences  proved  ultimately  to  be 
second  to  no  missionary  enterprise  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
not  even  the  work  of  Boniface  in  Germany  surpassing 
it  in  far-reacliing  consequences,  though  as  to  immediate 
results  the  apostle  to  the  Germans  was  more  fortunate. 
The  kingdom  of  Moravia,  though  it  acknowledged  the 
suzerainty  of  Charlemagne  and  his  successors,  was  still 
independent  in  the  ninth  century,  and  comprised  a  terri- 
tory extending  from  Bavaria  to  the  river  Drina,  and  from 
the  Danube  to  the  confines  of  Poland.  Efforts  had 
already  been  made  from  the  West  to  introduce  Chris- 
tianity, but  with  little  success.  The  people  were  not  in- 
clined to  receive  their  religion  from  the  nations  whose 
superiority  in  arms  they  were  compelled  reluctantly  to 
acknowledge,  nor  were  foreign  priests,  ignorant  of  the 


148  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

Slavonic  language  and  conducting  their  services  in  Latin, 
of  which  the  Slavs  were  wholly  ignorant,  the  most 
acceptable  of  missionaries. 

The  increasing  weakness  of  the  Western  emperors  en- 
couraged the  princes  of  Moravia  to  hope  for  the  regain- 
ing of  their  independence,  and  about  863  Prince  Rotislav 
made  a  vigorous  attempt  to  break  away  from  his  nominal 
suzerain.  He  formed  an  alliance  with  the  emperor  of 
the  East,  and  at  the  same  time,  perhaps  to  ingratiate  him- 
self with  his  ally,  requested  that  Christian  missionaries 
might  be  sent  from  Constantinople  to  preach  the  gospel 
to  his  people.  The  request,  whether  made  seriously  or 
not,  was  treated  with  all  seriousness,  and  the  emperor 
sent  two  brothers,  Methodius  and  Constantine,  or  Cyril. 
They  began  an  active  mission,  and  their  first  proceeding 
was  to  translate  the  Scriptures  into  the  vernacular.  Up 
to  this  time  the  Slavs  had  no  literature,  not  even  an 
alphabet.  These  missionaries  invented  an  alphabet,  using 
for  the  purpose  the  Greek  letters,  supplementing  them 
with  Armenian  and  Hebrew  characters  and  newly  devis- 
ing others  in  addition,  to  the  total  number  of  forty.  By 
this  means  the  language  was  reduced  to  writing,  and  the 
Bible  was  translated  into  Slavonic  and  read  to  the  people 
in  their  own  tongue  at  all  religious  services.  In  addition 
to  this,  the  liturgy  according  to  the  Greek  use  was  trans- 
lated, and  all  rites  of  the  church  were  celebrated  in 
the  vernacular. 

The  missionaries  were  interrupted  in  the  midst  of  their 
labors  by  a  summons  to  Rome,  to  give  an  account  of 
themselves  to  the  pope.  There  had  been  as  yet  no  formal 
separation  between  the  churches  of  the  East  and  West, 
and  even  in  the  East  it  was  acknowledged  that  a  certain 
primacy  of  honor  attached  to  the  See  of  Rome.  Accord- 
ingly, Cyril  and  Methodius  obeyed  the  summons,  and 
gave  an  account  of  their  work  and  the  methods  adopted 


VLADIMIR  149 

by  them.  It  was  the  jealousy  of  the  German  bishops 
that  had  provoked  this  interference.  These  prelates  were 
naturally  chagrined  at  seeing  missionaries  from  the  East 
successful  where  they  had  failed;  and  moreover,  were 
scandalized  by  the  violation  of  the  rule  that  prevailed 
throughout  the  West  of  regarding  Latin  as  the  sacred 
language,  in  which  all  the  rites  of  the  church  were  to  be 
celebrated.  But  there  was  no  canon  law  requiring  the 
liturgy  to  be  in  Latin;  it  was  merely  an  ancient  custom 
of  the  church  that  might  be  changed  at  any  time  for  good 
reasons,  and  the  East  had  always  had  a  different  rule. 
The  pope  could  not  condemn  these  missionaries  without 
condemning  with  them  the  whole  Eastern  Church.  Nor 
had  the  Roman  Church  and  its  pontiff  at  this  time  de- 
clared an  inexorable  opposition  to  the  circulation  of  the 
Scriptures  in  the  vernacular.  It  was  not  until  the  twelfth 
century,  after  the  Waldensian  movement  had  taught 
Rome  the  dangers  of  vernacular  translations  of  the  Gos- 
pels and  Epistles  that  these  were  prohibited,  first  to  lay- 
men, and  finally  even  to  priests,  the  latter  being  however 
free  to  read  the  Vulgate.  And  even  this  was  not  an 
article  of  faith,  but  a  rule  of  discipline,  that  might  be 
relaxed  at  any  time.  Still,  with  all  these  concessions,  it 
is  plain  that  during  the  Middle  Ages  the  power  of  the 
Roman  Church,  by  the  force  of  example,  was  silently 
exerted  against  the  use  of  vernacular  liturgies  and  trans- 
lations of  the  Scriptures.  There  was  never  any  faltering 
in  her  purpose  to  confine  religious  teaching,  except  in  the 
sermon,  to  the  Latin  tongue. 

John  VIII,  who  then  filled  the  papal  chair,  was  not  a 
pope  of  great  mark,  but  his  conduct  on  this  occasion  en- 
titles him  to  respect.  Methodius  seems  to  have  been  the 
spokesman  in  the  hearing,  and  much  may  have  been  due 
to  his  persuasiveness.  He  satisfied  the  pope  of  his  ortho- 
doxy, and  even  obtained  sanction  for  the  use  of  the  creed 


150  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

in  the  Eastern  form,  without  the  iilioque.  Still  further,  he 
obtained  emphatic  commendation  for  his  use  of  the  Sla- 
vonic language,  with  one  slight  qualification  to  which  he 
probably  did  not  object.  The  pope  wrote  to  the  Mora- 
vian prince : 

The  alphabet  invented  by  a  certain  philosopher,  Constantine 
(Cyril),  to  the  end  that  God's  praise  may  duly  sound  forth  in 
it,  we  rightly  commend;  and  we  order  that  in  this  language  the 
messages  and  works  of  our  Lord  Christ  be  declared,  for  we  are 
exhorted  by  holy  Scripture  to  praise  the  Lord,  not  in  three  lan- 
guages alone,  but  in  all  tongues  and  nations.  And  the  apostles, 
full  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  proclaimed  in  all  languages  the  great 
works  of  God.  And  the  Apostle  Paul  exhorts  us  that  speaking 
in  tongues  we  should  edify  the  church.  It  stands  not  at  all  in 
contradiction  with  the  faith  to  celebrate  the  mass  in  this  lan- 
guage, to  read  the  gospel  or  lessons  from  the  Scriptures  prop- 
erly translated  into  it,  or  to  rehearse  any  of  the  church  hymns 
in  the  same ;  for  the  God  who  is  the  author  of  the  three  principal 
languages  created  the  others  also  for  his  own  glory.  Only  it  is 
necessary,  in  order  to  greater  solemnity,  that  in  all  the  Moravian 
churches  the  gospel  should  in  the  first  place  be  publicly  read  in 
Latin,  and  then  repeated  in  the  Slavonian  language,  so  as  to  be 
understood  by  the  people. 

Not  only  so,  but  Methodius  was  by  the  See  of  Rome 
appointed  archbishop  of  Moravia,  and  suffragan  bishops 
were  duly  consecrated  to  act  with  him.  Doubtless  there 
was  in  all  this  a  politic  idea  at  Rome  that  it  was  well  to 
make  these  concessions  gracefully  and  so  extend  its  power 
over  the  Moravian  Church,  rather  than  by  taking  the  view 
of  the  German  ecclesiastics,  drive  the  Moravian  Chris- 
tians into  rebellion  against  Rome,  and  make  their  union 
with  the  East  inevitable.  It  was  good  ecclesiastical  poli- 
tics, and  eventually  it  had  its  reward,  for  in  process  of 
time  the  Moravian  Church  was  brought  into  union  with 
the  West. 

But  though  the  gain  of  the  Eastern  Church  in  Moravia 
was  thus  only  temporary,  the  labors  of  Cyril  and  Metho- 


VLADIMIR  151 

dius  had  a  great  effect  in  promoting  the  advancement  of 
the  Eastern  type  of  Christianity  among  the  Slavs.  This 
was  due  to  their  work  as  translators.  What  the  Roman 
Church  yielded  in  this  single  case — almost  the  only  one, 
perhaps  the  only  one,  that  can  be  named  in  all  its  history 
— the  Greek  Church  pursued  uniformly,  and  as  a  matter 
of  principle  as  well  as  policy.  Without  any  question  its 
missionaries  always  adopted  the  rule  of  giving  the  Scrip- 
tures in  their  native  language  to  every  nation  that  they 
evangelized.  In  a  previous  chapter  we  have  seen  how  in- 
fluential in  the  Christianizing  of  the  barbarian  invaders  of 
the  Western  empire  was  the  Maeso-Gothic  version  of  Ul- 
filas.  The  Slavonic  version  of  Cyril  and  Methodius  played 
a  similar  part  in  the  conversion  of  the  Slavs.  All  the 
various  tribes  and  principalities  of  this  race  differed  from 
each  other  as  to  language  only  as  speaking  dialects  of  one 
parent  stock.  The  translation  made  for  the  Moravians 
was  intelligible  among  all  Slavs,  not  more  difficult  for 
them  to  understand  than  the  English  of  Chaucer  is  for  us 
of  to-day.  And  the  making  of  this  version,  so  to  speak, 
stereotyped  the  Slavonic  language,  constituting  what  has 
since  remained  even  to  this  day  the  sacred  or  ecclesias- 
tical language,  as  distinguished  from  the  language  actu- 
ally spoken  by  the  people.  Nobody  can  estimate  fairly 
the  influence  of  this  version,  not  merely  in  making  the 
evangelization  of  all  Slavic  peoples  easier,  but  in  pro- 
moting the  feeling  of  unity  among  these  branches  of  the 
one  race.  Great  political  as  well  as  great  religious  results 
have  flowed  from  the  universal  use  of  this  version  among 
Slavonic  peoples,  consequences  whose  effects  are  still  felt 
in  European  politics,  and  may  yet  manifest  themselves  in 
a  striking  transformation  of  eastern  Europe. 

It  was  through  conquest  by  the  Magyars  and  subsequent 
incorporation  with  the  neighboring  kingdom  of  Bohemia, 
that  Moravia  and  its  church  became  finally  incorporated 


152  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

with  the  West  and  Rome.  The  Czeck  race  is  a  branch  of 
the  great  Slav  family  also,  and  the  Czecks  first  received 
the  gospel  from  priests  sent  by  the  Moravian  Church.  It 
was  not  until  the  close  of  the  tenth  century  that  Chris- 
tianity triumphed  in  Bohemia,  but  with  its  triumph  came 
an  ever-increasing  dominance  of  Roman  influence.  The 
use  of  the  Slavonian  language  and  liturgy  grew  less  and 
less  common,  until  at  length  the  Church  of  Bohemia  was 
assimilated  to  the  Roman  ''  use  "  as  it  prevailed  in  Ger- 
many. In  1060  Bohemia  was  so  far  Romanized  that  a 
synod  declared  Methodius  a  heretic  and  the  Slavonian 
alphabet  a  diabolical  invention.  Yet  nothing  can  alter 
the  fact  that  to  this  heretic  and  this  diabolical  invention 
Bohemia  owed  its  first  knowledge  of  Christ's  gospel. 

During  the  whole  Middle  Ages  there  was  another  Slav 
nation,  dwelling  between  the  Elbe,  Oder,  and  Saale,  to 
the  north  and  east  of  Germany,  known  as  the  kingdom  of 
the  Wends.  Repeated  efforts  were  made  to  introduce 
Christianity  among  them  by  missionaries  from  both  East 
and  West.  These  efforts  were  prolonged  over  several 
centuries,  and  more  than  once  appeared  to  be  crowned 
with  success;  but  after  every  apparent  triumph  of  the 
gospel  among  this  people  a  pagan  reaction  followed,  ac- 
companied by  the  slaughter  of  all  Christians,  missionaries 
and  natives.  This  is  the  only  instance  among  the  Slavs 
of  violent  opposition  to  the  gospel,  at  least  for  any  length 
of  time  and  to  any  considerable  extent.  It  was  not  until 
the  political  independence  of  the  Wends  was  lost  and 
they  were  absorbed  into  the  German  empire  that  Chris- 
tianity finally  became  established  among  them.  They  still 
exist  in  Prussia,  Saxony,  and  other  German  States,  a 
practically  separate  people  to  this  day,  though  their  as- 
similation to  the  surrounding  German  population  seems 
now  likely  to  be  accomplished  in  the  course  of  a  genera- 
tion or  two  more.     It  was  from  the  Greek  Church  that 


VLADIMIR  153 

they  received  their  first  impressions  of  the  Christian 
reUgion,  but  it  was  the  Roman  Church  that  finally  ob- 
tained dominion  over  them.  With  the  conservatism  char- 
acteristic of  their  race,  they  held  to  the  Roman  Church 
when  all  northern  Germany  became  Protestant  and  they 
are  Romanists  still. 

Poland,  the  farthest  north  of  the  Slav  nations  of  this 
period,  received  the  gospel  from  Bohemia  in  the  tenth 
century,  in  the  form  in  which  the  Eastern  Church  had 
taught  it.  The  king  of  Poland  had  married  a  Bohemian 
princess,  who  was  a  Christian,  and  was  by  her  persuaded 
to  accept  baptism  in  966.  He  was  a  zealous  convert,  and 
proceeded  to  suppress  the  old  pagan  worship  by  force. 
Christian  customs  were  imposed  in  the  same  manner,  and 
the  people  submitted  without  a  murmur  to  these  high- 
handed methods,  opposing  only  the  passive  resistance 
characteristic  of  their  race.  But  the  energy  of  princes 
triumphed  at  length  over  the  lethargy  of  the  people,  and 
the  kingdom  became  at  least  nominally  Christian  and 
ceased  to  be  openly  pagan.  From  the  year  970  a  bishop- 
ric was  established  at  Posen;  and  it  is  significant  that 
though  the  Poles  received  their  faith  from  the  East,  they 
took  their  ecclesiastical  rule  from  the  West,  for  the  Posen 
bishop  was  from  the  first  subordinated  to  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  archbishop  of  Mainz. 

We  may  sum  up  the  results  of  the  evangelization  of 
the  Slavs,  so  far  as  we  have  yet  proceeded,  by  saying  that 
Constantinople  sowed  the  seed  and  Rome  reaped  the 
fruits.  With  the  single  exception  of  the  Bulgarians,  all 
the  Slav  peoples  of  central  and  northern  Europe  evan- 
gelized through  preachers  from  the  Greek  Church,  even- 
tually became  subject  to  the  Western  pope.  The  process 
was  rapid  in  some  cases,  slow  in  others,  but  the  end  was 
at  most  only  postponed. 

It  is  quite  otherwise  with  the  last  and  most  important 


154  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

branch  of  the  Slav  race  that  was  converted  through  the 
influence  of  the  Eastern  Church.  The  history  of  the  Rus- 
sians may  be  said  to  begin  with  the  founding  of  the  king- 
dom of  Novgorod  in  862  by  Rurik,  a  Norman.  His  son 
Igur  added  Kiew  to  his  dominions.  There  was  a  Chris- 
tian church  in  this  city  at  the  time  of  the  conquest,  and 
from  knowledge  of  this  Princess  Olga  (who  afterward 
became  the  wife  of  Igur)  may  have  derived  her  wish  to 
go  to  Constantinople  and  learn  more  about  this  religion. 
At  any  rate  she  went,  was  instructed  in  the  doctrines  of 
Christianity,  made  her  profession  of  faith  and  was  bap- 
tized, taking  thenceforth  the  name  of  Helena.  She  was 
unable  to  gain  her  son  to  her  religion,  and  during  the  suc- 
ceeding reign  paganism  still  prevailed  in  Russia.  Her 
grandson,  Vladimir,  also  began  his  career  as  a  pagan,  and 
in  his  early  years  gained  the  reputation  of  an  exception- 
ally bloodthirsty  and  immoral  ruler,  "  a  monster  of  cruelty 
and  debauchery,"  he  is  called.  He  was  visited,  we  are 
told,  by  the  representatives  of  various  religions  in  turn, 
Jews,  Mohammedans,  Christians  from  the  West,  and 
finally  by  "  a  philosopher  from  the  East,"  who  discoursed 
most  persuasively  about  the  gospel.  There  is  evidently 
more  or  less  of  legendary  matter  mixed  up  with  this  ac- 
count, which  we  have  from  a  Russian  priest  named  Nes- 
tor, who  wrote  about  a  century  after  the  events  that  he 
recorded,  but  evidently  believed  all  that  he  tells  us.  The 
main  outlines  are  doubtless  true,  though  there  must  be 
great  allowance  for  the  imagination — not  necessarily  of 
the  writer,  but  of  the  people  who  handed  down  these 
details  until  Nestor  put  them  in  writing. 

It  is  doubtless  true,  as  Nestor  next  proceeds  to  relate, 
that  Vladimir,  still  in  doubt  as  to  the  religion  he  and  his 
people  had  better  adopt,  resolved  to  send  an  embassy  to 
Tsarogorod,  the  city  of  the  Csesars,  which  of  course  can 
only  denote  Constantinople.     The  embassy  was  received 


VLADIMIR  155 

with  high  honors.  "  Let  them  see  the  glory  of  our  God," 
said  the  emperor,  and  accordingly  they  were  placed  where 
they  could  best  see  the  most  splendid  ecclesiastical  func- 
tion of  that  age,  a  high  festival  of  a  saint  honored  in  the 
Eastern  Church.  The  service  was  in  what  was  then  the 
most  splendid  edifice  in  Christendom,  gorgeous  with  gold 
and  mosaics,  the  church  of  Santa  Sophia.  Rome  had  not 
its  equal  to  show  then,  for  St.  Peter's  and  the  Cologne 
cathedral  were  not  yet  even  an  idea,  much  less  a  reality. 
Nor  was  the  Western  service  of  that  day  so  impressive 
in  its  stately  ceremonial  as  was  that  of  the  East.  "  The 
Russians  were  struck,"  says  a  Byzantine  annalist,  "  by 
the  multitude  of  lights  and  the  chanting  of  the  hymns ;  but 
what  most  filled  them  with  astonishment  was  the  appear- 
ance of  the  deacons  and  sub-deacons  issuing  from  the 
sanctuary,  with  torches  in  their  hands.  .  .  'All  that 
we  have  seen,'  said  they,  *  is  awful  and  majestic,  but  this 
is  supernatural.  We  have  seen  young  men  with  wings  in 
dazzling  robes  who,  without  touching  the  ground,  chanted 
in  the  air,  "  Holy !  holy !  holy !  "  and  this  is  what  has 
most  surprised  us.'  The  guides  replied,  *  What !  do  you 
not  know  that  angels  come  down  from  heaven  to  mingle 
in  our  services  ? '  '  You  are  right,'  said  the  simple- 
minded  Russians,  *  we  want  no  other  proof ;  send  us 
home  again.'  " 

When  they  reached  home  the  ambassadors  gave  a  glow- 
ing account  of  the  wonders  they  had  seen :  "  When  we 
stood  in  the  temple,  we  did  not  know  where  we  were,  for 
there  is  nothing  else  like  it  upon  earth;  there  in  truth 
God  has  his  dwelling  with  men ;  and  we  can  never  forget 
the  beauty  we  saw  there.  No  one  who  has  once  tasted 
sweets  will  afterward  take  that  which  is  bitter;  nor  can 
we  any  longer  abide  in  heathenism."  Then  said  some  of 
his  boyars  or  nobles  to  Vladimir,  "  If  the  religion  of  the 
Greeks  had  not  been  good,  your  grandmother  Olga  would 


156  CHRISTIAN   EPOCH-MAKERS 

not  have  embraced  it."  This  seems  to  have  been  the 
turning-point  with  Vladimir,  and  he  then  and  there 
determined  to  be  baptized. 

Nevertheless,  he  was  a  shrewd  ruler,  and  saw  the  pos- 
sibilities of  political  capital  in  this  change  of  religion.  He 
besieged  and  took  the  city  of  Cherson,  on  the  borders  of 
the  empire,  as  then  circumscribed  in  its  domains,  and 
then  sent  to  Constantinople,  demanding  the  hand  of  Anne, 
the  sister  of  the  emperor,  as  the  double  price  of  his  con- 
version and  peace.  With  some  difficulty  Anne  was  per- 
suaded that  it  was  her  duty  to  become  his  bride,  and 
Vladimir  was  accordingly  baptized  at  Cherson.  With 
the  zeal  that  frequently  has  characterized  royal  converts, 
he  determined  that  all  his  people  should  follow  his 
example.  Many  of  them  hesitated,  and  he  adopted  two 
expedients  to  persuade  them.  The  first  was  an  ocular 
demonstration  of  the  impotence  of  their  heathen  divini- 
ties. The  huge  wooden  idol  Peroun,  hitherto  the  most 
sacred  object  in  the  nation,  was  dragged  over  the  hills  at 
a  horse's  tail,  and  scourged  as  it  went  by  twelve  mounted 
horsemen,  finally  being  thrown  into  the  Dnieper.  The 
people  were  at  first  smitten  with  horror,  and  many  of 
them  followed  the  idol  as  it  floated  down  the  stream,  but 
when  they  saw  it  helplessly  carried  along  and  finally 
swallowed  up  in  the  rapids,  they  returned  fully  convinced 
that  this  great  god  was  a  cheat.  Then  Vladimir  pro- 
claimed his  will:  "Whoever  on  the  morrow  shall  not 
repair  to  the  river,  whether  rich  or  poor,  I  shall  hold  him 
for  my  enemy."  Accordingly  the  whole  people  of  Kiew, 
not  only  men  but  their  wives  and  children  also,  flocked 
to  the  river.  "  Some  stood  in  the  water  up  to  their  necks, 
others  up  to  their  breasts,  holding  their  young  children  in 
their  arms;  the  priests  read  the  prayers  from  the  shore, 
naming  at  once  whole  companies  by  the  same  name.  It 
was  a  sight  wonderfully  curious  and  beautiful  to  see,  and 


VLADIMIR  157 

when  the  whole  people  were  baptized  each  one  returned 
to  his  own  house."  Vladimir,  says  Nestor,  from  whom 
we  have  this  entire  account,  was  transported  at  the  sight 
and  cried  out,  "  O  great  God,  who  hast  made  heaven  and 
earth,  look  down  upon  these  thy  new  people.  Grant 
them,  O  Lord,  to  know  thee,  the  true  God,  as  thou  hast 
been  known  to  Christian  lands,  and  confirm  in  them  a 
true  and  unfailing  faith;  and  assist  me,  O  Lord,  against 
my  enemy  that  opposes  me  that,  trusting  in  thee  and  thy 
power,  I  may  overcome  all  his  wiles." 

Kiew  became  the  Canterbury  of  this  new  Christian 
kingdom.  On  the  very  spot  where  the  temple  of  Peroun 
had  stood  Vladimir  erected  the  church  of  St.  Basil,  and 
Michael,  the  first  metropolitan,  had  his  See  here.  But 
Vladimir  himself  is  rightly  held  by  the  Russian  people  to 
have  been  the  chief  instrument  in  their  conversion,  and 
he  is  to  this  day  their  national  hero  and  saint.  He  de- 
serves even  the  latter  title  better  than  most  who  have 
worn  it.  He  was  a  genuine  Christian  according  to  his 
lights,  greatly  improved  in  personal  character,  and  most 
anxious  that  his  people  should  be  fully  instructed  in  t^e 
religion  they  had  thus  adopted.  In  the  founding  of 
churches,  the  support  of  missionaries  to  every  part  of  his 
realm,  the  establishment  of  schools,  he  was  indefatigible. 
From  his  day  we  may  reckon  Russia  a  Christian  nation. 

The  suddenness  of  this  conversion,  almost  literally  "  a 
nation  in  a  day,"  has  puzzled  many  writers.  Some  have 
endeavored  to  escape  the  difficulty  by  skepticism  regard- 
ing the  facts  as  Nestor  relates  them.  This  is,  however, 
too  simple  a  solution  to  be  really  satisfactory.  Nestor  is 
not  a  critical  historian,  to  be  sure;  he  possibly  Invents 
details,  and  at  any  rate  adopts  without  question  whatever 
is  pleasing  and  edifying;  and  yet  there  is  good  reason 
to  accept  as  substantially  correct  his  account  of  the  con- 
version of  Vladimir  and  his  people.    Many  obviously  un- 


158  CHRISTIAN   EPOCH-MAKERS 

designed  details  in  the  narrative  support  the  main  events. 
It  is  evident  that  the  way  had  been  prepared  for  such  a 
wholesale  and  speedy  conversion  of  the  people  by  several 
things.  There  was  a  weakening  of  confidence  in  the  gods 
that  had  been  previously  worshiped.  The  very  fact  of 
the  sending  of  embassies  to  learn  about  the  different  relig- 
ions indicates  a  wavering  of  conviction,  as  well  as  an  anx- 
iety to  know  the  truth  in  a  better  form  than  it  had  before 
been  taught  them. 

The  effect  of  a  gorgeous  ceremonial  in  turning  the  scale 
is  another  undesigned  corroborative  touch  in  the  narra- 
tive. From  the  beginning  to  this  day,  the  Russians  have 
been  especially  attached  to  ceremony,  and  the  detail  of 
the  Russian  liturgy  is  said  to  be  beyond  that  even  of  the 
Roman  in  pomp  and  splendor,  in  rich  and  highly  colored 
vestments,  in  the  use  of  incense  and  other  sensuous  acces- 
sories. And,  as  we  have  already  noted,  the  fact  that  the 
Greek  missionaries  who  came  at  Vladimir's  invitation 
had  already  at  hand  the  offices  of  the  church  in  a  liturgy 
that  the  Russians  could  understand  and  a  version  of  the 
Scriptures  that  they  could  read,  was  a  circumstance  of 
inestimable  weight  in  promoting  the  speedy  evangeliza- 
tion of  this  people. 

With  this  conversion  of  Vladimir  and  the  establishment 
of  the  Greek  Church  in  Russia,  the  last  great  medieval 
missionary  movement  comes  to  its  close.  It  is  too  soon 
yet  to  estimate  accurately  its  importance.  We  only  know 
that  the  Slav  race  seems  now  to  have  a  great  future  open- 
ing. Slavs  are  no  unimportant  element  in  the  German 
and  Austrian  empires,  but  they  are  the  dominant  race  of 
Russia,  and  they  hold  the  peace  of  Europe  in  their  hands 
in  Bulgaria  and  Roumania.  In  all  there  are  at  least  one 
hundred  million  of  them,  as  against  seventy  million  Ger- 
mans and  eighty  million  of  the  Latin  races.  As  individ- 
uals and  as  a  race  they  are  slow  of  development,  but  of 


VLADIMIR  159 

great  force,  and  indomitable  in  their  dogged  persistence. 
Lacking  the  brilHant  quahties  of  the  Latin  races,  espe- 
cially of  the  French,  less  given  to  intellectual  pursuits 
than  the  Germans,  wanting  in  that  restless  enterprise  that 
the  English  have  inherited  from  their  piratical  ancestors 
which  has  made  them  the  colonizing  nation  of  the  world 
pbove  all  others,  the  Russians  have  certain  solid  qualities 
with  which  the  world  must  reckon.  With  unresting 
perseverance  they  have  pushed  out  into  every  unoccu- 
pied part  of  Asia,  and  till  lately  have  taken  the  first  place 
there  in  diplomacy  and  in  the  arts  of  peace.  In  spite  of 
her  recent  disasters,  it  may  well  be  that  the  greatness  of 
Russia  is  only  beginning,  or  if  there  should  come  a  revolu- 
tion that  should  split  the  present  vast,  unwieldy  Russian 
empire  into  a  number  of  smaller  States,  the  Russian  race 
has  in  that  case  perhaps  an  even  greater  future  before  it 
than  we  can  now  reasonably  forecast.  And  the  progress 
of  the  Russian  race  means  first  of  all  the  extension  of 
that  form  of  Christianity  that  was  professed  by  Vladi- 
mir, into  which  the  throngs  at  Kiew  were  baptized  on  that 
memorable  day. 


IX 


RAIMUND    LULL: 
THE   DARK   AGE   OF   MISSIONS 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Our  chief  source  is  the  writings  of  Lull,  of  which  one  biog- 
rapher says  there  are  over  four  thousand,  but  only  about  three 
hundred  of  these  are  now  known  to  exist.  They  are  in  three 
languages:  Latin,  Catalonian,  and  Arabic.  A  collection  of  the 
more  important  has  been  edited  by  Salzinger,  nominally  in  ten 
volumes,  but  two  of  these  were  never  published  (Mainz,  1721- 
42).  The  Ars  Magna  was  first  printed  in  1647,  and  has  several 
times  been  republished.  Valuable  original  documents  are  also 
contained  in  the  Acta  Sanctorum,  Vol.  XXVII,  pp.  581-676.  A 
number  of  biographies  were  written  between  15 19  and  1788,  but 
as  they  are  practically  inaccessible,  they  need  not  be  mentioned 
here.  Two  lives  of  Lull  in  English  have  lately  appeared  and  are 
very  useful:  one  by  Zwemer  (New  York,  1902),  the  other  by 
Barber  (London,  1905).  In  addition,  see  Encyclopedia  Britan- 
nica,  art.  "Lully";  Neander,  Vol.  IV,  pp.  61-71,  190-192,  307- 
311,  435-440,  481-485;  Maclear,  History  of  Christian  Missions  in 
the  Middle  Ages,  pp.  354-368;  Delecluze,  in  Revue  des  Deux 
Mondes,  1840. 


IX 

RAIMUND  lull:    THE  DARK  AGE  OF  MISSIONS 

BRILLIANTLY  successful  the  policy  of  the  Great 
Gregory  had  proved  to  be.  Through  the  labors  of 
Augustine,  Boniface,  and  Ansgar,  and  a  myriad  of  other 
missionaries  of  like  spirit  and  aims,  the  Church  of  Rome 
had  extended  her  power  throughout  Europe.  This  work 
was  practically  accomplished  by  the  close  of  the  ninth 
century,  and  thenceforth  the  Roman  bishops  thought  no 
more  of  missionary  conquests,  but  gave  themselves  up 
to  dreams  of  worldly  dominion.  An  opportunity  was 
furnished  them  in  the  same  century  that  saw  their  mis- 
sionary enterprise  completed.  At  the  close  of  the  pre- 
ceding century  the  gift  of  Pippin,  confirmed  by  his  son, 
Charlemagne,  had  bestowed  on  the  pope  the  more  than 
doubtful  blessing  of  temporal  power  and  placed  him 
among  the  princes  of  Europe.  Henceforth,  popes  were 
no  longer  content  with  spiritual  rule;  they  desired  to 
extend  their  temporal  possessions  as  ardently  as  any 
secular  prince  and,  under  the  pretext  of  exercising  spir- 
itual authority,  to  rule  the  kings  of  the  earth  as  the  em- 
perors had  ruled  their  subject  princes.  The  breaking 
up  of  the  vast  empire  founded  by  Charlemagne,  as  his 
sceptre  slipped  from  the  weak  hands  of  his  successors, 
opened  the  way  for  the  gratification  of  this  ambition. 

With  this  division  of  the  new  empire  of  the  West 
begins  the  modern  system  of  Europe,  but  the  beginnings 
were  feeble  and  the  confusion  was  great  and  prolonged. 
Here  was  the  opportunity  for  papal  aggrandizement,  and 
the  most  was  made  of  it.     It  is  true  there  were  weak 

163 


164  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

popes,  as  well  as  weak  princes,  but  the  papacy  enjoyed 
this  great  advantage  in  such  a  contest :  it  had  an  unchang- 
ing policy  and  great  conservative,  as  well  as  marvelous 
recuperative  powers.  What  a  strong  pope  had  managed 
to  grasp  even  a  weak  pope  was  usually  able  to  retain, 
and  if  there  was  at  any  time  an  apparent  loss  of  privi- 
lege or  possession,  before  the  victor  had  time  to  congratu- 
late himself  the  loss  was  more  than  made  good.  Nothing 
is  more  instructive  than  the  steady  advance  of  the  papacy 
against  all  opposition,  in  spite  of  frequent  defeats  that 
would  have  been  fatal  to  any  other  human  institution. 
It  illustrates  the  power  of  any  body  of  men  who  are 
devoted  to  a  principle,  who  are  compactly  organized, 
who  know  just  what  they  are  determined  to  have  and 
are  not  too  scrupulous  about  the  means  of  getting  it. 

For  this  great  and  rapid  advance  of  the  papal  power, 
the  forged  decretals  of  the  pseudo  Isidore  furnished  the 
dogmatic  and  historical  background.  Here  were  weapons 
fitted  to  hand  for  popes  to  defend  the  wildest  claims  to 
supremacy  that  they  might  think  it  prudent  to  put  forth. 
And  it  proved  that  there  was  a  succession  of  occupants 
of  the  papal  chair  who  were  willing  to  use  these  weapons 
without  inquiring  too  curiously  whence  they  came. 
Nicholas  I,  when  he  affirmed  categorically  that  the  orig- 
inal documents  of  these  decretals  were  in  the  Vatican 
collections,  may  have  been  deceived  by  some  librarian  or 
secretary,  relying  on  the  assurance  of  his  assistant  with- 
out taking  the  trouble  to  verify  it.  But  even  in  that  case, 
the  most  charitable  hypothesis  possible,  it  is  indubitable 
that  he  was  very  willing  to  be  deceived,  and  that  if  no 
secretary  lied  to  him  he  was  quite  capable  of  telling  the 
lie  on  his  own  account.  From  his  day  onward  the  lie 
was  solemnly  repeated  and  unquestionably  received,  until 
not  Holy  Scripture  itself  was  appealed  to  more  frequently 
or  with  greater  confidence  than  these  decretals. 


RAIMUND   LULL  165 

This  position  established,  the  time  was  ripe  for  Hilde- 
brand,  with  his  theory  of  a  universal  spiritual  dominion; 
and  as  the  spirit  takes  precedence  over  the  body,  so  the 
church  has  an  authority  above  that  of  any  or  all  earthly 
potentates.  The  pope  is  absolute  sovereign  and  suzerain, 
the  vicegerent  of  God.  From  him,  as  God's  representa- 
tive, all  kings  receive  their  crowns  and  authority,  and 
by  him  this  authority  may  be  taken  from  them  if  they 
resist  the  vicar  of  God.  Though  Hildebrand  died  in  exile 
and  apparent  failure,  his  theory  of  the  papacy  did  not  die, 
but  was  professed  and  practised  by  his  successors,  until 
Innocent  III  succeeded  in  making  an  all  but  perfect  ap- 
plication of  it  to  his  age.  He  made  and,  unmade  em- 
perors and  kings;  until  England  was  chagrined  and  the 
rest  of  the  world  greatly  edified  by  seeing  the  monarch 
of  the  third  power  of  Europe  humbly  lay  his  crown  at 
the  feet  of  the  pope  and  do  homage  to  him  as  his  supe- 
rior, to  receive  his  crown  back  as  the  pope's  vassal,  an  an- 
nual tribute  being  stipulated  as  proof  that  his  vassalage 
was  not  merely  nominal.  After  this  triumph,  the  inso- 
lence of  Innocent  knew  no  bounds.  He  blasphemously 
applied  to  himself  the  words  of  our  Lord,  *'A11  power 
is  given  unto  me  in  heaven  and  on  earth,"  and  not  only 
claimed  but  exercised  supreme  power  in  Europe.  The 
world  has  long  enough  exclaimed  at  the  egotism  of  the 
king  who  declared,  "  I  am  the  State  " ;  here  was  a  pope 
who  declared,  "  I  am  the  world,"  and  believed  it. 

One  power  only  seemed  to  threaten  the  permanence  of 
the  empire  that  the  popes  had  thus  built  up.  Nearly  six 
centuries  before  the  time  of  Innocent,  a  religious  enthu- 
siast in  Arabia  had  begun  to  preach  a  new  way  of  salva- 
tion. He  was  despised  and  persecuted  by  his  towns- 
people, who  refused  to  see  in  this  camel-driver  a  prophet 
of  God.  Even  his  own  family  and  kinsmen  did  not  be- 
lieve in  his  mission,  and  finally  he  was  driven  to  seek 


l66  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

safety  in  flight,  narrowly  escaping  with  his  hfe.  In  the 
neighboring  city  of  Medina  he  set  up  a  theocratic  govern- 
ment, of  which  he  was  prophet,  lawgiver,  judge,  and 
general.  His  power  gradually  extended  over  Arabia,  his 
native  city  surrendered  to  him,  and  Mecca  became  the 
religious  capital  of  the  new  religion  of  Mohammed.  He 
died  having  accomplished  for  his  faith  what  the  apostles 
had  done  for  Christianity,  plus  Constantine. 

Who  would  have  believed,  even  after  Mohammed  was 
fairly  established  at  Medina,  that  he  was  founding  one 
of  the  great  world  religions  and  one  of  the  great  world 
empires?  Yet  such  proved  to  be  the  case.  His  suc- 
cessors, with  the  Koran  in  one  hand  and  the  sword  in 
the  other,  swept  like  a  prairie  fire  over  Syria  and  Asia 
Minor,  over  Egypt  and  Africa,  in  little  more  than  a  cen- 
tury conquering  as  large  a  part  of  the  earth's  surface  as 
Rome  became  mistress  of  in  five  hundred  years. 

At  first  Europe  was  rather  enraged  than  alarmed  by 
these  conquests.  Even  when  the  Saracens  wrested  from 
the  Eastern  empire  all  its  Asiatic  possessions  and  con- 
fined to  the  limits  of  a  petty  principality  those  who 
proudly  called  themselves  emperors  and  claimed  succes- 
sion from  the  Caesars — even  then  Europe  was  not  really 
frightened.  What  could  this  horde  of  barbarians  effect 
against  them?  But  angry,  filled  with  what  was  supposed 
to  be  religious  zeal,  Europe  certainly  was.  These  infidels 
had  taken  the  Holy  Land,  they  held  possession  of  the 
Holy  City,  they  were  the  custodians  of  the  Holy  Sepul- 
cher.  Such  defilement  was  not  to  be  suffered;  these 
holy  places  must  be  retaken  and  put  under  Christian 
guardianship.  And  inspired  by  this  idea,  Europe  began 
a  holy  war  that  endured  nearly  two  centuries.  The 
preaching  of  a  mad  hermit  had  less  to  do  with  this  enter- 
prise known  as  the  Crusades  than  has  been  commonly 
supposed.     Far-sighted   and   astute  popes,   partly   influ- 


RAIMUND   LULL  167 

enced  by  religious  feeling,  but  not  unmindful  of  inciden- 
tal advantages  resulting  to  the  papacy,  aroused  and 
carefully  fostered  the  crusading  spirit. 

And  at  first  the  enterprise  seemed  likely  to  succeed. 
Jerusalem  was  taken  and  a  Christian  kingdom  was  set 
up  there.  If  the  Christian  leaders  could  have  been  united 
in  counsel  possibly  the  Crusades  might  have  been  per- 
manently successful,  and  the  history  of  Europe  might 
have  been  changed.  As  it  was,  the  struggle  continued 
with  varying  fortunes  for  six  generations,  and  it  resulted 
in  the  complete  regaining  of  their  conquests  by  the  Sara- 
cens. It  had  become  apparent  by  the  close  of  the  thir- 
teenth century,  not  only,  that  the  Mohammedans  could 
not  be  driven  out  of  the  Holy  Land,  but  that  it  would  be 
fortunate  if  they  were  kept  out  of  Europe.  For  while 
the  Saracens  might  never  have  become  a  serious  menace, 
the  Ottoman  Turks  were  just  founding  their  empire  and 
beginning  those  conquests  that  placed  their  sultan  on  the 
throne  of  the  Csesars,  where  their  degenerate  successor 
still  reigns  in  the  city  of  Constantine. 

Nevertheless,  though  the  Crusades  did  not  succeed, 
they  were  not  a  failure.  This  is  not  mere  paradox.  They 
achieved  something  of  far  more  worth  to  Europe  than 
the  object  that  they  proposed  to  themselves.  They  kept 
back  for  several  centuries  the  advancing  wave  of  Moham- 
medan conquest,  and  gave  Europe  a  breathing  spell  in 
which  to  gather  strength  to  repel  the  next  grand  advance, 
and  thus  they  saved  Christian  civilization,  though  they 
lost  the  Holy  Sepulcher.  They  hastened  the  breaking  up 
of  the  feudal  system,  which  had  outlived  its  usefulness 
and  become  a  barrier  to  human  progress.  If  they  seemed 
for  a  time  to  strengthen  the  papacy,  they  really  prepared 
the  way  for  its  downfall.  By  bringing  the  men  of  Europe 
into  contact  with  the  East,  by  enlarging  their  horizon,  in- 
troducing them  to  a  new  civilization,  accustoming  them 


t68  christian  epoch-makers 

to  new  comforts  and  luxuries,  stimulating  commerce, 
promoting  the  study  of  new  sciences  and  giving  addi- 
tional zest  to  the  old  learning,  the  Crusades  set  in  motion 
an  intellectual  movement  that,  as  it  gathered  strength 
and  momentum,  came  to  be  called  the  Renaissance,  the 
new  birth  of  Europe  out  of  the  ignorance  and  stagnation 
of  the  Dark  Ages.  And  men's  minds  having  been  thus 
aroused,  inquiry  having  once  begun,  it  was  found  impos- 
sible for  the  church  to  set  bounds  to  free  thought,  and 
in  due  course  the  Reformation  followed. 

The  thirteenth  century  was  a  transition  period  between 
the  old  and  the  new,  and  just  before  the  middle  of  it  a 
boy  was  growing  up  in  southern  Europe  who,  as  a  man, 
was  to  win  fame  as  one  of  the  great  scholastics,  who 
deserves  even  greater  fame  as  the  originator  of  another 
crusade,  with  different  weapons,  to  achieve  what  the 
first  had  failed  to  accomplish — the  staying  of  the  Mo- 
hammedan power.  It  was  at  Palma,  the  capital  of  the 
isle  of  Marjorca,  that  Raimund  Lull  was  born  in  1236. 
His  biographers  claim  for  him  noble  extraction;  certain 
it  is  that  he  was  of  a  family  connected  with  the  court,  and 
he  himself  became  a  court  official. 

It  was  a  wonderful  age  upon  which  his  unfolding 
mind  looRed  out,  and  wonderful  things  his  eyes  were  to 
see  ere  death  closed  them.  His  life  began  in  the  pon- 
tificate of  Gregory  IX,  perhaps  the  ablest  and  strongest 
of  the  successors  of  Innocent  III.  There  was  as  yet  no 
apparent  diminution  in  the  papal  power ;  on  the  contrary, 
it  seemed  to  increase  rather  than  diminish.  The  Hohen- 
staufen  had  nearly  succumbed  in  the  long  struggle  with 
the  popes ;  a  few  years  more  would  see  the  power  of  the 
German  emperors  broken  and  the  center  of  political  in- 
fluence transferred  to  France.  The  barons  of  England 
had  not  long  before  risen  against  King  John  and  wrested 
Magna  Charta  from  him.     Hungary  had  compelled  the 


RAIMUND   LULL  1 69 

unwilling  emperor  to  concede  her  a  charter  that  made 
her  an  independent  monarchy  in  fact,  though  still  a 
nominal  part  of  the  empire.  The  free  cities  were  rising 
into  wealth,  populousness,  military  strength,  and  even 
political  power  all  over  Europe.  It  was  the  age  of  the 
great  universities :  the  schools  of  Paris,  Oxford,  Cam- 
bridge, Padua  and  half  a  dozen  less  celebrated,  were 
established  in  the  first  half  of  this  century.  Thomas 
Aquinas  was  this  boy's  senior  by  nine  years;  Dante  was 
his  junior  and  survived  him  seven  years.  The  closing 
year  of  this  century  witnessed  the  great  jubilee  of  Pope 
Boniface  VIII,  when  a  plenary  indulgence  was  promised 
to  every  pilgrim  to  the  Holy  City.  Thousands  came  to 
Rome  with  their  gifts,  and  then,  it  is  said,  the  priests 
might  be  seen  after  service  gathering  the  gold  and  silver 
and  jewels  from  the  altars  with  rakes.  Yet  this  boy  lived 
to  see  this  same  pope  driven  from  Rome,  taken  captive 
by  the  king  of  France  and  released  only  to  die  of  shame 
and  grief,  while  his  successors  became  the  mere  puppets 
of  France.     So  great  a  fall  from  how  great  a  height! 

Little  heed,  however,  did  the  boy  give  to  these  political 
and  social  changes,  even  when  he  had  grown  to  man- 
hood. Other  thoughts  filled  his  mind  and  absorbed  his 
life.  For  the  first  thirty  years  he  was  little  different 
from  other  men  of  his  time.  He  loved  pleasure,  and 
being  handsome,  a  favorite  at  court,  and  having  a  suffi- 
cient fortune,  he  found  it  not  difficult  to  gratify  his  taste. 
He  married  and  children  were  born  to  him,  but  this  made 
little  difference  in  his  character.  He  was  still  a  seeker 
of  pleasure,  even  of  that  which  is  forbidden.  In  that 
day  any  man  of  spirit  was  compelled  by  social  opinion  to 
maintain  a  reputation  for  gallantry,  and  the  breach  of  the 
seventh  commandment  was  more  honored  than  its  ob- 
servance. Lull  was  not  behind  other  men  of  his  time 
and  society,  and  what  they  were  we  may  gather  suffi- 


170  CHRISTIAN   EPOCH-MAKERS 

ciently  from  the  tales  of  Boccaccio,  who  wrote  less  than 
a  century  later.  In  intrigues  then  considered  highly  hon- 
orable, but  which  would  now  cover  any  man  with  dis- 
grace, in  writing  erotic  verses,  and  in  the  pursuits  of  a 
courtier  Lull  passed  his  days  until  nearly  half  his  three- 
score and  ten  years  were  spent. 

His  conversion  occurred  quite  suddenly.  He  was 
writing  one  of  his  amatory  poems  when  a  vision  of  Christ 
on  the  cross  flashed  before  his  mind,  and  he  could  think 
of  nothing  else.  He  laid  the  verses  aside,  and  when  later 
he  took  them  up  and  attempted  to  write  the  same  thing 
happened  again.  This  time  the  vision  was  an  abiding 
one ;  it  haunted  him  day  and  night,  and  he  found  no  peace 
until  he  resolved  to  devote  himself  wholly  to  Christ's 
service.  His  chief  cause  of  hesitation  was  his  recollec- 
tion of  his  previous  life;  how  could  one  so  impure  as  he 
enter  on  so  holy  a  calling?  At  length  he  said  to  himself, 
"  Christ  is  so  gentle,  so  patient,  so  compassionate ;  he 
invites  all  sinners  to  himself;  therefore  he  will  not  reject 
me,  notwithstanding  all  my  sins."  Henceforth  there 
was  no  hesitation.  The  surrender  was  absolute,  the  con- 
secration complete.  He  made  a  covenant  with  God :  "  To 
thee,  O  Lord  God,  I  offer  myself,  my  wife,  my  children, 
and  all  that  I  possess.  May  it  please  thee,  who  didst  so 
humble  thyself  to  the  death  of  the  cross,  to  condescend  to 
accept  all  that  I  give  and  offer  to  thee,  that  I,  my  wife, 
and  my  children  may  be  thy  lowly  servants." 

Throughout  the  rest  of  his  long  life  Lull  never  wavered 
from  this  determination.  Though  he  was  born  and  bred 
and  lived  in  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  was  faithful  to 
his  religious  duties  as  the  Church  prescribed  them,  and 
never  dreamed  of  questioning  her  dogmas,  his  spirit  was 
not  that  of  a  Romanist.  His  religion  was  not  one  of 
works,  but  of  faith;  not  a  life  of  ritual,  but  of  fellow- 
ship through  the  spirit  with  his  Lord.     As  to  this,  we 


RAIMUND    LULL 


171 


have  not  only  unanimous  testimony  from  his  biogra- 
phers, but  his  own  remarkable  work  "  On  the  Contempla- 
tion of  God,"  by  far  the  most  spiritual  book  of  the  age, 
and  one  that  deserves  to  be  placed  beside  the  "  Confes- 
sions "  of  Augustine  and  the  "  Imitation  of  Christ." 
There  was  no  practice  of  medieval  times  more  in  vogue 
among  the  people  and  more  favored  by  the  church  than 
the  making  of  pilgrimages.  This  is  what  Lull  says  of: 
them: 

Why  are  multitudes  so  ignorant  as  to  travel  away  into  distant 
lands  to  seek  thee,  carrying  evil  spirits  with  them,  if  they  de- 
part laden  with  sin?  The  pilgrims  are  so  deceived  by  false  men, 
whom  they  meet  in  taverns  and  churches,  that  many  of  them, 
when  they  return  home,  show  themselves  to  be  far  worse  than 
they  were  when  they  set  out  on  their  pilgrimage.  He  would 
find  thee,  O  Lord;  let  him  go  forth  to  seek  thee  in  love,  loyalty, 
devotion,  faith,  hope,  justice,  mercy,  truth;  for  in  every  place 
where  these  are,  there  art  thou.  Blessed  then  are  all  they  who 
seek  thee  in  such  things.  The  things  that  a  man  would  find  he 
should  seek  earnestly,  and  he  must  seek  in  the  place  where  they 
may  be  found.  If  then  the  pilgrims  would  find  thee,  they  must 
carefully  seek  thee;  and  they  must  not  seek  thee  in  the  images 
and  paintings  of  churches,  but  in  the  hearts  of  holy  men,  in 
which  thou  dwellest  day  and  night.  The  mode  and  the  way  to 
find  thee  stands  within  the  power  of  man,  for  to  remember  thee, 
to  love  thee,  to  honor,  to  serve  thee;  to  think  of  thine  exalted 
dignity  and  of  our  own  great  wants — this  is  the  occasion  and 
the  way  to  find  thee  if  we  seek  thee.  Often  have  I  sought  thee  on 
the  cross,  and  my  bodily  eyes  have  not  been  able  to  find  thee, 
although  they  have  found  thine  image  there  and  a  representation 
of  thy  death.  And  when  I  could  not  find  thee  with  my  bodily 
eyes,  I  have  sought  thee  with  the  eye  of  my  soul,  and  thinking 
on  thee,  my  soul  found  thee;  and  when  it  found  thee,  my  heart 
began  immediately  to  warm  with  the  glow  of  love,  my  eyes  to 
weep,  my  mouth  to  praise  thee.  How  little  profits  it  the  pilgrims 
to  roam  the  world  in  quest  of  thee,  if  when  they  have  come 
back  from  their  pilgrimage,  they  return  again  to  sin  and  folly. 

It  was  impossible  that  a  man  who  so  fully  understood 
the  religion  of  Christ  should  content  himself  with  any- 


172  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

thing  less  than  preaching  that  reHgion  to  others.  Almost 
simultaneously  with  his  conversion  the  missionary  call 
came  to  Lull,  and  he  conceived  the  project  of  becoming 
a  preacher  of  the  truth.  But  where?  He  was  a  man  of 
his  age,  and  his  age  was  the  age  of  Crusades.  The  hope 
was  not  yet  abandoned,  though  it  was  becoming  faint, 
of  recovering  the  Holy  Sepulcher  from  the  infidels,  and 
even  of  completely  shattering  the  Mohammedan  power. 
Lull  recognized  the  danger  of  a  Mohammedan  advance 
into  Europe  better  perhaps  than  most  of  his  contempora- 
ries; he  was  as  alive  as  any  of  them  to  the  shame  of 
having  the  holy  places  of  the  Christian  faith  in  the  pos- 
session of  those  who  rejected  Jesus  Christ  as  the  Son 
of  God.  He  too  began  to  preach  a  crusade,  but  one  in- 
spired by  love  rather  than  hate,  one  to  be  carried  on  with 
weapons  of  the  Spirit  rather  than  sword  and  lance.  He 
says: 

I  see  many  knights  going  to  the  Holy  Land,  in  the  expectation 
of  conquering  it  by  force  of  arms,  but  instead  of  accomplishing 
their  object,  they  are  in  the  end  all  swept  off  themselves.  There- 
fore it  is  my  belief  that  the  conquest  of  the  Holy  Land  should 
be  attempted  in  no  other  way  than  as  thou  and  thine  apostles 
undertook  to  accomplish  it — by  love,  by  prayer,  by  tears,  and 
the  offering  up  of  our  own  lives.  As  it  seems  that  the  possession 
of  the  Holy  Sepulcher  and  the  Holy  Land  can  be  better  secured 
by  the  force  of  preaching  than  by  the  force  of  arms,  therefore 
let  the  monks  march  forth,  as  holy  knights,  glittering  with  the 
sign  of  the  cross,  replenished  with  the  grace  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
and  proclaim  to  the  infidels  the  truth  of  thy  passion;  let  them 
from  love  to  thee  exhaust  the  whole  fountain  of  their  eyes,  and 
pour  out  all  the  blood  of  their  bodies,  as  thou  hast  done  from 
love  to  them !  Many  are  the  knights  and  noble  princes  that  have 
gone  to  the  promised  land  with  a  view  to  conquer  it;  but  if 
this  mode  had  been  pleasing  to  thee,  O  Lord,  they  would  assuredly 
have  wrested  it  from  the  Saracens  who  possess  it  against  thy 
will.  .  .  But  since  that  ardor  of  devotion  which  glowed  in 
apostles  and  holy  men  of  old  no  longer  inspires  us,  love  and 
devotion    through    almost    the    whole    world    have    grown    cold. 


RAIMUND   LULL  1 73 

Therefore  do  Christians  expend  their  efforts   far  more  in  the 
outward  than  in  the  spiritual  conflict. 

Lull  was  conscious  of  his  lack  of  preparation  for  the 
work  to  which  he  felt  himself  called.  His  education  had 
been  as  slight  as  that  of  most  men  of  the  world  in  his 
age ;  it  included  little  beyond  reading  and  writing,  which, 
of  course,  means  the  reading  and  writing  of  Latin.  No- 
body was  yet  bold  enough  to  write  books  in  the  vernacu- 
lar, though  Dante  was  soon  to  do  so.  Purchasing  a  Sara- 
cen slave,  Lull  began  to  learn  Arabic,  and  at  the  same 
time  to  meditate  on  the  great  problems  of  philosophy 
and  theology.  His  mind  was  the  most  original,  bold,  and 
subtle  of  his  century.  Less  gifted  in  the  merely  organiz- 
ing faculty  than  Thomas  Aquinas,  he  far  excelled  that 
famous  theologian  in  the  daring  with  which  he  grappled 
with  great  questions  and  the  confidence  with  which  he 
proposed  solutions  of  them.  He  was  not  fitted  to  become 
a  systematic  theologian  perhaps,  but  he  might  have 
founded  a  school  of  research  by  the  modern  inductive 
method,  in  which  he  nearly  became  the  anticipator  of 
Bacon. 

The  chief  fruits  of  his  studies  were  his  ''Ars  Major/'  or 
"  Generalis,"  which  professed  to  be  the  outlines  of  a  uni- 
versal formal  science,  and  a  treatise  "  On  the  Discovery 
of  Truth."  Other  works  indeed  he  wrote,  but  his  sys- 
tem is  fully  contained  in  these  two.  The  second  in 
chronology  takes  logical  precedence,  since  it  has  for  its 
object  the  vindication  of  thought,  the  establishment  of 
the  reality  of  knowledge.  The  accepted  opinion  of  his 
age  was  that  there  is  a  necessary  (or,  at  any  rate,  a  real) 
opposition  between  faith  and  knowledge;  that  many  of 
the  truths  of  revealed  religion  are  contrary  to  reason 
and  must  be  accepted  by  an  act  of  faith.  This  seems  to 
have  been  at  bottom  the  opinion  even  of  Thomas  Aquinas, 
who  insisted  that  we  must  receive  the  dogmas  of  the 


174  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

church  by  an  act  of  faith  independent  of  the  reason,  and 
that  the  office  of  reason  is  to  explain  and  interpret  that 
which  the  church  assures  us  to  be  the  truth.  God  was 
to  Lull  not  more  an  object  of  faith  than  of  knowledge; 
and  knowledge  and  faith  harmonize,  not  because  one  is 
subject  to  the  other,  but  because  both  are  acts  of  one 
mind.  Therefore  the  higher  the  mind  rises  in  knowledge, 
the  richer  the  soul  becomes  in  faith. 

It  is  this  conviction  that  underlies  the  "  Ars  Major." 
His  fundamental  postulate  is  the  reasonable  and  demon- 
strable character  of  the  Christian  religion,  and  to  make 
this  clear  is  the  object  of  the  treatise.  Though  it  was 
reckoned  one  of  the  great  philosophical  treatises  of  the 
age,  and  gained  for  its  author  a  high  place  among  the 
scholastic  philosophers,  it  was  in  aim  what  we  should 
now  call  a  work  of  apologetics.  What  he  undertook  in 
his  great  art  was  to  establish  a  method  of  investigation, 
and  his  method,  in  spite  of  much  that  is  merely  formal 
and  scholastic,  and  even  fantastic,  was  in  its  essence  an 
anticipation  of  the  modern  scientific  method  of  inductive 
investigation.  With  great  elaboration  he  worked  out  a 
system  of  tabulating  and  integrating  all  the  different 
propositions  that  may  be  made  about  an  object  of  thought 
— precisely  the  same  idea  applied  to  thought  that  Bacon 
taught  us  to  apply  to  things.  And  after  he  had  com- 
pleted his  works  he  devoted  himself  for  many  years  to 
their  exposition  at  the  universities  of  Paris,  Montpellier, 
and  elsewhere,  establishing  his  fame  as  one  of  the  great 
philosophers  of  the  thirteenth  century. 

But  Lull's  object,  let  us  remember,  was  not  to  gain 
fame  as  a  philosopher,  but  to  spread  the  missionary  spirit. 
He  was  teaching  a  way  to  demonstrate  the  truth  of  the 
Christian  religion,  that  others  might  be  moved  to  join  him 
in  the  attempt  to  convert  the  Saracens  by  proving  their 
religion  false  and  Christianity  necessarily  true.     He  also 


RAIMUND   LULL  I75 

sought  to  induce  popes  and  princes  to  found  chairs  of 
Oriental  languages,  in  connection  with  the  universities, 
for  the  education  of  future  missionaries.  In  this  he  was 
to  some  extent  successful,  and  to  his  influence  was  due 
the  beginning  of  an  interest  in  Oriental  studies  that  was 
never  again  wholly  lost  in  Europe.  Another  plan  of  his 
was  to  found  a  new  order  of  knights  for  the  conquest  of 
the  Holy  Sepulcher,  knights  of  the  cross  indeed,  who 
should  go  forth  with  no  weapon  but  the  sword  of  the 
Spirit,  no  armor  but  the  truth,  and  make  a  peaceful  con- 
quest where  a  conquest  by  mailed  warriors  had  proved  to 
be  impossible.  This  seemed  a  mad  scheme  to  his  age, 
and  he  could  inspire  nobody  with  his  faith  and  zeal. 

To  the  end  Lull  continued  to  be  only  the  voice  of  one 
crying  in  the  wilderness.  Even  the  example  of  his  fear- 
less devotion  failed  to  move  an  age  that  was  wrapped 
up  in  things  alien  to  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  to  infidels. 
After  one  temporary  sinking  of  heart  and  recoiling  from 
the  dangers  of  his  course.  Lull  embarked  in  1292  for 
Tunis  and  began  a  mission  among  the  Mohammedans. 
He  gave  out  that  he  was  willing  to  discuss  with  the 
learned  men  the  tenets  of  their  religion  and  to  embrace 
their  religion  if  he  found  the  grounds  of  its  doctrines 
stronger  than  those  for  Christianity.  Zealous  Moham- 
medan teachers  accepted  the  invitation,  and  he  held  high 
debate  with  them  for  some  time.  They  set  forth  their 
teachings  in  the  strongest  light,  and  he  on  his  part  en- 
deavored to  prove  to  them  that  these  were  inferior  to 
Christian  doctrines.  This  was  his  line  of  argument:  A 
wise  man  will  acknowledge  that  to  be  the  true  religion 
which  attributes  the  greatest  perfection  to  God,  gives  the 
most  befitting  conception  of  each  single  divine  attribute, 
and  most  fully  demonstrates  the  equality  and  harmony 
subsisting  among  them  all.  Without  the  doctrine  of  the 
Trinity  we  cannot  understand  the  perfection  of  God  and 


176  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

the  harmony  between  his  attributes.  For  if  there  be  no 
distinctions  of  persons  in  the  Godhead,  the  divine  per- 
fections must  be  made  to  depend  on  a  creation,  which 
had  a  beginning  in  time.  The  goodness  and  inteUigence 
of  God  cannot  be  conceived  of  as  inactive;  but  if  there 
is  no  Trinity,  then  these  attributes  must  have  been  inac- 
tive until  creation — consequently  God  was  not  perfect 
until  he  made  the  world.  Again,  to  the  essence  of  good-j 
ness  belongs  self -communication;  but  this,  as  a  perfect 
exercise  of  goodness,  can  be  conceived  of  only  as  an 
eternal  act;  and  this  requires  the  distinction  of  persons 
in  the  Godhead.  Christianity  is  the  only  religion  that  is 
fully  conformable  to  reason. 

What  success  he  might  have  had  in  his  mission  it  is 
impossible  to  say,  for  it  was  cut  short  in  a  summary 
fashion.  The  king  was  informed  of  what  was  going  on, 
and  the  ferment  that  was  caused  in  the  city  by  these  de- 
bates, and  Lull  was  thrown  into  prison.  Only  a  belief 
that  he  must  be  of  unsound  mind — who  else  but  a  lunatic 
would  have  attempted  such  a  thing?  was  doubtless  the 
reasoning — saved  his  life.  He  was  sent  back  to  Genoa 
with  a  warning  that  death  would  be  the  penalty  of  return. 
A  second  mission  to  Bugia,  then  the  capital  of  the  Mo- 
hammedan empire  in  north  Africa,  in  1307,  had  an 
almost  precisely  parallel  history.  A  third  visit  in  131 5 
resulted  in  his  death.  He  was  fallen  upon  by  a  Saracen 
mob,  dragged  outside  the  city  and  stoned,  being  left  for 
dead  under  the  heap  of  stones  hurled  at  him.  Some 
Christian  merchants  obtained  permission  to  take  his  body 
for  burial,  and  to  their  surprise  they  found  signs  of  life 
in  it.  Lull  revived  for  a  few  days,  but  died  on  shipboard 
before  he  could  reach  his  native  land. 

Raimund  Lull  is  known  to  the  world  at  large  as  a 
master  of  those  ingenious  subtleties  that  have  brought  a 
not  undeserved  reproach  on  the  name  scholastic.     To  a 


RAIMUND   LULL  I77 

few  curious  students  he  is  known  as  the  inventor  of  the 
mariner's  compass,  and  the  student  of  chemistry — or,  as 
it  was  called  in  his  days,  alchemy.  To  a  few  only  does 
his  name  suggest  the  Christian  missionary,  remarkable 
above  all  other  men  in  the  history  of  missions  for  the 
largeness  of  his  plans  and  the  originality  of  his  methods, 
the  inferior  of  none  in  saintly  character  and  unquenchable 
zeal. 

It  is  easy  to  decry  his  method — to  pronounce  it,  as 
certain  smart  critics  have  said,  a  means  of  enabling  us 
to  talk  without  judgment  of  things  we  do  not  know.  It 
is  easy  to  declare  his  mission  a  failure,  impracticable  in 
its  aim,  unwise  in  its  prosecution.  If  he  had  been  sus- 
tained by  the  Christians  of  his  day,  as  later  missionaries 
were  sustained;  if  his  appeal  for  a  gospel  crusade  had 
met  the  response  that  was  given  to  Urban's  preaching  of 
a  crusade  with  the  sword,  who  can  say  what  the  result 
would  have  been  on  the  history  of  Christianity  and  of 
the  world?  Only  those  who  believe  that  the  gospel  of 
Christ  is  not  the  power  of  God  unto  the  salvation  of  all 
men,  are  entitled  to  question  either  the  wisdom  or  the 
sufficiency  of  the  missionary  methods  that  Raimund 
Lull  advocated,  for  the  assertion  of  which  he  was  ready 
to  give  his  life.  And  only  those  who  deny  that  God  rules 
the  world  and  that  his  truth  is  ultimately  to  prevail  in  it, 
may  say  that  such  a  life  was  needlessly  sacrificed  or  reck- 
lessly thrown  away.  While  there  remains  among  men 
faith  in  the  teachings  of  Christ,  this  apostle  of  heavenly 
love  in  an  age  of  violence  and  faithlessness  will  be  held 
in  honor.  While  deeds  of  heroism  have  power  to  thrill 
men's  hearts,  they  will  read  with  moist  eyes  the  story  of 
this  life  and  death,  and  be  inspired  to  like  devotion.  For 
we  have  the  assurance  of  One  whose  word  never  fails, 
that  he  who  thus  loses  his  life  shall  find  it. 


M 


X 


FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI: 
THE  MISSIONS  OF  THE  GRAY  FRIARS 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

The  best  biography  of  Francis  is  that  of  Sabatier  (Paris,  1894; 
English  translation  by  Mrs.  Houghton,  New  York,  same  year). 
The  appendix  contains  a  critical  study  of  the  sources,  of  which 
only  a  few  are  easily  accessible :  Salter,  The  Legend  of  St. 
Francis,  by  the  Three  Companions  (London,  1904)  ;  the  Life  by 
Thomas  of  Celano,  ed.  H.  G.  Rosedale  (London,  1904)  ;  and  that 
by  Bonaventura,  translated  by  Lockhart  (London,  1868),  to  which 
should  be  added  Evans,  The  Mirror  of  Perfection  (London, 
1901),  and  the  Fiorette  or  Little  Flowers  of  St.  Francis,  trans- 
lated by  T.  W.  Arnold  (Temple  Classics).  A  volume  of  miscel- 
laneous early  documents,  ed.  H.  Boehmer,  has  been  published 
under  the  title,  Analekta  zur  Geschichte  des  Franciscus  von 
Assisi  (Tiibingen,  1904).  Very  interesting,  though  hardly  a 
"  source,"  is  the  allegory.  The  Lady  Poverty,  lately  translated  by 
Montgomery  Carmichael  (New  York,  1903).  Other  available 
biographies  are:  Le  Monnier,  A  Franciscan  Tertiary  (English 
translation,  London,  1894),  excellent  from  the  Roman  Catholic 
point  of  view  and  critical ;  Knox-Little,  an  English  High 
Churchman  (New  York,  1897)  ;  Mrs.  Oliphant  (London,  1877), 
the  latter  readable,  but  not  critical.  Francis  and  Dominic  are 
made  the  subjects  of  a  comparative  study  by  Herkless  in  a  vol- 
ume of  the  "World's  Epoch-Makers"  (New  York,  1901).  An 
excellent  history  of  the  Franciscans  is  that  of  Hiittebrauker,  Der 
Minoritcnordcn  sur  Zeit  des  grossen  Schisma  (Berlin,  1893), 
but  the  great  authority  is  Wadding,  Annales  Minorum  Sive 
Trium  Ordinum  a  S.  Francesco  Institutorum,  with  continua- 
tion by  I.  de  Luce  (twenty- four  vols.,  Naples,  1731-1869),  though 
there  is  a  fair  popular  work  in  English  by  a  Roman  Catholic, 
Mogliano,  Francis  and  the  Franciscans  (New  York,  1867).  An 
excellent  essay  on  Francis  may  be  found  in  Stephens'  Essays  in 
Ecclesiastical  Biography,  pp.  58-99  (London,  1891),  and  Trench 
is  well  worth  reading,  Lectures  on  Medieval  Church  History, 
Lect.  No.  8.  On  the  Franciscan  Mission  in  England,  see  Jessopp, 
The  Coming  of  the  Friars  (New  York,  1889). 


FRANCIS   OF   ASSISi:    THE    MISSIONS    OF    THE    GRAY    FRIARS 


W 


'ITH  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century  a  great 
change  took  place  in  the  condition  and  fortunes 
of  the  Roman  Church  in  Europe.  The  pontificate  of 
Innocent  III  was  marked  by  many  brilHant  achievements, 
and  measured  by  what  he  actually  accomplished  he  may 
well  be  pronounced  the  greatest  in  the  long  line  of  great 
popes.  One  other  man  shares  with  him  the  honor  of  this 
rehabilitation  of  the  church,  Francis  of  Assisi. 

The  story  of  Francis  has  often  been  told,  and  little 
now  remains  to  be  added  to  our  knowledge  of  the  facts ; 
nevertheless,  the  story  has  never,  in  all  respects,  been  fit- 
tingly told.     The  most  scholarly  of  his  biographers  does 
not  show  the  insight  to  be  desired  into  some  phases  of 
the  career  of  Francis.    He  was  of  Italian  parentage,  with 
probably  a  dash  of  Provengal  blood  in  his  veins,  and  he 
was   early   taught   the   French   language,    for   which   he 
always  retained  a  great  liking.  This  blending  of  nationali- 
ties in  his  blood  and  breeding  accounts  for  much  in  his 
personality.    Gaiety  is  a  characteristic  of  both  races  from 
which  he  drew  his  life,  but  in  the  Italian  gaiety  is  mixed 
with  somberness.     From  his  Provengal  strain  came  to 
Francis  that  knightly,  chivalrous   spirit  which  was  his 
great  characteristic,   and   also  his  love  of   romance,  of 
poetry,  of  flowers  and  anim.als,  that  his  contemporaries 
often  beheld  in  him,  and  frequently  to  their  amazement. 
We  need  not  linger  over  the  details  of  the  wild  and 
wasted  youth,  the  critical  illness,  the  conversion,  self- 
abnegation,  choice  of  poverty,  troubles  with  his  family 

i8i 


l82  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

before  his  vocation  could  be  acknowledged.  These  facts 
are  given  with  more  than  necessary  fulness  in  every 
biography ;  all  that  the  well-meaning  writers  have  missed 
is  their  significance.  This  is  because  they  have  viewed 
these  facts  in  the  light  of  subsequent  events,  or  have  read 
into  them  a  meaning  that  is  at  once  impossible  and 
absurd. 

The  conversion  of  Francis  was  a  moral  change  of  the 
purely  evangelical  type,  strange  as  such  an  experience 
seems  in  the  Roman  Church  of  the  Middle  Ages.  He 
saw  himself  a  sinner;  he  turned  to  Christ  for  pardon  and 
cleansing,  and  the  Holy  Spirit  wrought  in  him  that 
miracle  of  grace,  regeneration.  No  priest,  no  sacrament, 
no  saint,  came  between  him  and  his  Saviour.  Thence- 
forward the  one  absorbing  purpose  of  his  life,  to  his 
latest  breath,  was  to  follow,  to  obey,  to  imitate  the 
Christ.  His  devotion  often  passed  the  bounds  of  ordi- 
nary sane  reason  and  became  enthusiasm,  but  it  was 
simple  enthusiasm,  without  theological  vagary. 

It  was  a  life  of  the  spirit  upon  which  Francis  entered 
after  his  conversion,  not  a  religion  of  forms.  It  was  the 
immediate  grace  of  Christ  that  he  had  experienced,  nor 
did  he  ever  feel  the  need  of  any  other  intermediary 
between  himself  and  God.  No  saint  was  permitted  to 
usurp  in  his  heart  the  throne  sacred  to  the  Son  of  God. 
"  Jesus,"  not  *'  Mary,"  was  the  name  ever  on  his  lips  in 
prayer.  He  knew  whom  he  had  believed.  Nothing  is 
more  striking  than  his  unlikeness  in  all  this  to  the  Roman 
Catholic  faith  and  practice  of  his  time.  But  it  is  quite 
as  characteristic  of  him  that  he  was  perfectly  unconscious 
of  this  unlikeness.  He  was  at  no  time  given  to  introspec- 
tion, or  to  comparison  of  himself  with  others.  In  the 
recesses  of  his  soul  he  was  the  arch-heretic  of  his  age, 
and  he  suspected  it  as  little  as  did  his  contemporaries. 
For  there  could  have  been  and  there  can  be  no  more 


FRANCIS   OF  ASSISI  183 

absolute  heresy  in  the  Roman  Church  than  these  simple 
ideas  of  Francis.  To  reject  the  whole  practice  of  saintly 
intercession,  to  dethrone  the  Mother  of  God,  to  look  for 
grace  to  Christ  himself  and  not  to  expect  it  through  sacra- 
ments dispensed  by  the  priest — this  is  to  strike  the 
deadliest  of  all  blows  against  the  whole  Roman  system. 

Francis  was  no  theologian.  He  never  put  his  beliefs 
into  words,  and  that  was  what  saved  him  from  all  sus- 
picion of  heresy.  Forms  sat  easily  upon  him,  and  he 
did  without  question  or  misgiving  what  he  saw  others  do. 
He  accepted  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation  because 
the  church  taught  it.  He  believed  that  he  believed 
everything  taught  by  the  church,  when  in  fact  it  is  plain 
that  he  believed  little  of  it.  His  character  was  of  the 
simplest,  and  he  had  as  little  wish  to  deceive  others  as 
suspicion  that  he  had  deceived  himself.  His  poetic, 
romantic  nature  made  him  a  creature  of  imagination 
all  compact,  and  all  his  beliefs,  as  well  as  his  spiritual 
experiences,  were  to  him  so  vivid  as  to  have  the  potency, 
the  convincing  force  of  most  men's  intuitions. 

It  is  this  quality  in  him  that  explains  his  choice  of 
poverty.  He  accepted  the  teaching  of  the  great  doctors 
of  the  church  that  Jesus  had  commanded  his  followers 
to  go  forth  without  two  coats,  with  neither  purse  nor 
scrip— not  some  followers  for  a  limited  time,  but  all  fol- 
lowers for  all  time.  Others  regarded  this  as  a  counsel  of 
perfection,  that  all  Christians  should  admire  and  none 
obey;  not  so  he.  If  this  was  a  command  of  Christ,  and 
his  trusted  teachers  said  it  was,  nothing  was  left  him  but 
obedience — and  he  obeyed  without  question,  not  reluc- 
tantly, but  with  joy.  Poverty  was  to  him  no  bond,  but 
liberty;  he  renounced  that  he  might  more  truly  possess. 
In  this  he  had  learned  the  secret  of  Christ. 

Francis  did  not  choose  poverty  merely  or  chiefly  as  a 
social  expedient,  as  certain  of  his  biographers  have  main- 


184  CHRISTIAN   EPOCH-MAKERS 

tained.  He  may  have  discerned  the  fact  that  he  would 
thus  break  down  a  barrier  between  himself  and  the  people, 
but  he  entered  on  the  life  of  poverty  as  a  duty.  Nor  was 
he  moved  by  any  love  of  squalor  and  dirt,  for  these  are 
never  inseparable  from  poverty,  and  he  at  least  separated 
them,  for  he  saw  no  connection  between  filth  and  godli- 
ness. Poverty  meant  to  him  merely  refusal  to  accumu- 
late property.  A  Christian  should  be  satisfied  with  the 
daily  supply  of  his  daily  wants;  this  he  had  a  right  to 
expect,  but  to  wish  more  was  to  distrust  the  providence 
of  a  good  God.  Nor  was  it  as  a  cloak  for  idleness  that 
he  adopted  poverty  for  himself  and  enjoined  it  on  others. 
On  the  contrary,  it  was  both  his  theory  and  his  practice 
to  gain  his  daily  bread  and  needed  clothing  by  labor.  In 
return  for  the  products  of  labor  one  might  accept  food 
and  clothing,  but  never  money;  and  any  surplus  beyond 
the  actual  wants  of  the  day  must  be  distributed  at  once 
among  the  needy.  P>ancis  himself  learned  the  trade  of 
wood-carver,  and  practised  it  with  diligence  and  success. 
Mendicancy  was  permitted,  but  not  as  a  calling.  When 
for  any  reason  he  or  his  followers  failed  to  satisfy  their 
simple  needs  by  the  product  of  their  labor — or  if,  as 
often  happened,  they  had  given  away  their  all  to  those 
still  more  needy — it  was  permitted  to  ask  alms  of  other 
Christians.  The  sturdy  beggars  who  in  after  years  be- 
came to  Europe  as  a  plague  of  locusts,  and  made  the  gray 
friar's  robe  a  thing  hated  by  rich  and  poor  alike,  were  as 
unworthy  of  the  name  of  Francis  as  of  that  greater 
Name  that  they  profaned. 

With  such  fundamental  ideas  as  these  Francis  began 
his  work,  his  sole  purpose  being  to  live  the  Christian  life. 
He  had  no  plan  to  gather  a  company,  and  when  the  fas- 
cination of  his  character  and  the  devotion  of  his  life  drew 
to  him  a  few  kindred  souls,  he  still  had  no  thought  of 
founding  an  order.    As  conditions  of  companionship,  he 


FRANCIS   OF   ASSISI  185 

required  only  that  these  friends  should  take  the  same 
vow  of  poverty  that  he  had  taken — before  God,  not  to 
any  priest  or  prelate,  its  only  sanction  the  sacredness  of 
conscience.  This  vow  was  irrevocable  only  in  case  a  dis- 
ciple and  companion  had  the  same  inflexible  determina- 
tion that  he  himself  possessed,  to  serve  God  in  this  way 
to  the  end.  One  who  had  mistaken  his  vocation  was, 
after  due  trial,  not  only  permitted  but  encouraged  by 
Francis  to  return  to  his  former  life.  And  if  there  was 
no  idea  of  an  order  in  these  early  years,  still  less  trace 
can  we  find  of  the  monastic  life.  Francis  was,  in  truth, 
fundamentally  and  hopelessly  at  variance  with  the  spirit 
of  monachism.  The  monastic  ideal  is  personal  holiness, 
its  aim  the  salvation  of  one's  own  soul,  its  method  with- 
drawal from  the  world ;  the  ideal  of  Francis  was  the  sal- 
vation of  others — his  own  soul  he  could  trust  to  his  Sa- 
viour— and  his  method  was  to  seek  and  save  the  lost.  The 
monastic  spirit  is  essentially  antichristian,  because  essen- 
tially selfish;  the  spirit  of  Francis  was  the  spirit  of  his 
Master — missionary. 

The  first  labors  of  Francis  appear  to  have  been  exclu- 
sively what  are  called  works  of  charity,  ministration  to 
the  bodily  wants  of  others.  The  beautiful  stories  of  his 
childlike  forgetfulness  of  self  in  the  desire  to  serve 
others,  of  his  simple  and  unconscious  devotion,  are  very 
touching  and  doubtless  in  the  main  true.  They  illustrate 
his  character  perfectly.  They  explain  the  otherwise  in- 
explicable hold  that  he  never  failed  to  obtain  and  retain  on 
any  who  came  to  know  him  intimately.  It  was  not  very 
long  before  he  began  to  teach  as  well  as  to  minister,  not 
so  much  through  any  plan  of  his  own  as  in  obedience  to 
an  imperative  necessity.  One  so  full  of  the  love  of  Christ 
could  not  but  speak ;  one  who  had  so  deep  an  experience 
of  God's  grace,  to  whom  spiritual  things  were  so  vivid 
realities,  could  not  have  kept  silence  about  them  if  he  had 


l86  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

tried.  He  did  not  preach  formal  sermons,  but  he  spoke 
to  men  as  they  would  listen,  and  always  of  the  love  of 
God,  of  Christ  as  a  Saviour,  of  his  own  redemption 
through  grace.  He  spoke  of  what  he  knew,  because  he 
had  experienced  it.  Such  teaching  carries  conviction, 
and  he  made  converts,  some  of  whom  desired  to  become 
his  companions  and  coworkers.  Gradually  a  little 
community  grew  up  around  him. 

The  chief  obstacle  to  this  work  of  Francis  was  the 
church.  The  clergy  were  jealous  of  this  layman's  suc- 
cess. Almost  in  the  beginning  the  bishop  of  Assisi  is 
said  to  have  remonstrated  with  Francis :  "  I  find  your 
life  very  hard;  is  it  not  going  a  little  too  far  thus  to  re- 
nounce all  possessions  ?  "  But  Francis  would  not  yield  a 
jot.  He  said :  "  If  we  had  possessions,  we  should  want 
arms  to  defend  them;  for  this  world's  goods  are  always 
occasions  of  disputes  and  lawsuits,  and  they  lead  to  vio- 
lence and  war.  They  are  the  ruin  of  all  love  to  God  and 
to  our  neighbor,  and  that  is  why  we  will  not  have  posses- 
sions in  this  world."  The  feudal  society  about  them  was 
a  sufficient  Commentary  on  these  words.  Besides,  the 
bishop  was  not  quite  prepared  to  take  the  ground  that 
obedience  to  a  command  of  Christ  was  really  dangerous. 
Still,  Francis  was  made  to  feel  that  he  was  under  sus- 
picion, that  he  was  opposed  by  the  church,  in  constant 
danger  of  being  prohibited  from  continuing  his  work.  It 
would  speedily  be  necessary  for  him  either  to  abandon 
his  vocation,  or  to  become  a  schismatic,  unless  he  should 
secure  protection  from  the  head  of  the  church.  Of 
abandoning  his  work  he  never  dreamed;  from  schism  he 
shrank  as  from  deadly  sin ;  there  was  nothing  to  do  but 
appeal  to  the  pope. 

The  papacy  had  learned  from  the  case  of  Waldo  the 
necessity  of  treating  enthusiasts  with  tact  and  discretion. 
Because  Waldo,  under  almost  precisely  similar  circum- 


FRANCIS   OF   ASSISI  187 

Stances,  had  been  refused  a  like  request,  the  church  had 
been  forced  to  deal  with  the  most  dangerous  heretical 
sect  it  had  ever  known.  While  an  enthusiast  is  always 
dangerous  to  a  great  religious  organization,  he  is  less 
dangerous  inside  than  outside.  Inside  his  energy  may  be 
directed  into  safe  channels,  he  may  be  encysted;  outside 
he  is  capable  of  incalculable  harm.  Innocent  III  was  too 
wise  a  pontiff  to  reject  the  plea  of  Francis,  who  refused 
to  enter  any  of  the  established  orders,  and  continued  to 
prefer  his  request  with  that  mixture  of  humility  and 
inflexible  purpose  that  is  always  invincible.  *'  Go,"  the 
pope  is  reported  at  last  to  have  said ;  "  go  with  God's 
blessing,  and  preach  penitence  to  all,  in  the  way  that  he 
is  pleased  to  inspire  you.  And  when  the  Almighty  has 
made  you  grow  in  grace  and  in  numbers,  return  joyfully 
and  tell  me  of  it;  you  will  find  that  I  trust  you,  and  I  will 
accord  you  still  greater  favors."  This  verbal  approval 
was  all  that  could  then  be  gained ;  formal  approval  of  the 
new  order  was  plainly  conditioned  on  its  success.  But  this 
was  enough  to  secure  Francis  from  further  opposition, 
not  to  say  persecution. 

As  the  price  of  this  approval,  the  pope  exacted  a  fatal 
condition :  the  voluntary  society  was  to  become  an  order. 
The  members  must  all  receive  the  tonsure,  and  elect  one 
of  their  number  general  and  vow  to  him  their  obedience. 
Francis  was  of  course  chosen  general,  and  all  were  form- 
ally admitted  to  the  clerical  order,  in  which  Francis 
himself  never  rose  above  the  rank  of  deacon.  By  this 
means  all  danger  of  schism  was  averted,  and  a  movement 
that  contained  great  possibilities  of  mischief  was  suc- 
cessfully diverted  into  regular  church  channels.  Noth- 
ing moves  one  to  greater  admiration  of  the  far-sighted 
policy  of  the  Roman  court,  nothing  better  proves  the 
greatness  of  Innocent  III  among  the  Roman  pontiffs,  than 
this  manipulation  of  Francis  and  his  order.     For  while 


l88  CHRISTIAN   EPOCH-MAKERS 

he  returned  to  Assisi  thinking  that  he  had  won  a  great 
victory,  the  real  truth  was  that  the  one  purpose  of  his  life 
had  suffered  defeat  in  this  transformation  of  his  lay 
brotherhood  into  a  clerical  order. 

Francis  learned  too  late  that  he  had  purchased  the 
protection  of  the  highest  power  in  the  church  at  a  ruin- 
ous price — a  price  that  meant  something  worse  than  the 
destruction  of  his  brotherhood.  At  first,  however,  noth- 
ing of  this  appeared.  For  some  years  the  new  order 
prospered  wonderfully,  to  all  outward  seeming.  From 
the  time  of  the  visit  to  Rome  all  obstacles  to  progress 
crumbled  away  in  a  manner  truly  wonderful.  In  the 
year  following,  he  sent  out  his  disciples  two  by  two 
through  Europe,  and  their  success  was  almost  equal  to 
his  own.  And  his  success  can  be  called  nothing  else  than 
marvelous.  Wherever  he  went,  crowds  flocked  to  hear 
his  preaching,  by  scores  and  hundreds  men  desired  to 
enroll  themselves  in  his  order,  whole  populations  were 
moved  by  a  new  and  strange  religious  fervor. 

This  would  have  been  enough  to  turn  the  head  of 
almost  any  man,  but  Francis  remained  unmoved.  He 
considered  popularity  a  misfortune;  he  tried  to  restrain 
rather  than  increase  the  number  of  his  followers.  From 
the  beginning  he  recognized  the  fact  that  his  vow  of 
poverty  was  one  that  should  be  taken  only  by  those  choice 
souls  who  were  convinced  that  in  this  way  they  could 
best  serve  Christ — that  it  was  a  requirement  beyond  the 
needs  of  the  many,  beyond  the  possibilities  of  most,  but 
the  necessity  of  a  few.  Yet,  in  spite  of  his  utmost  care, 
the  growth  of  the  order  was  such  that  at  its  general 
assembly  in  1219 — seven  years  after  the  beginning  of  its 
formal  existence — five  thousand  members  came  together 
near  Assisi,  where  they  lodged  in  booths  of  woven  rushes, 
whence  this  is  still  known  as  the  Chapter  of  the  Mats. 

This  meeting  was  made  the  occasion  of  perfecting  the 


FRANCIS   OF   ASSISI  189 

organization  and  arranging  for  a  great  advance.  Car- 
dinal Ugolino,  who  at  the  request  of  Francis  presided, 
was  responsible  for  a  great  change  in  the  order.  Hitherto 
Francis  alone,  as  its  head,  had  the  power  to  bestow  the 
habit,  /.  e.,  to  admit  members ;  now  this  power  was  given 
also  to  the  chiefs  of  the  various  missions,  on  the  plea  that 
they  would  be  too  distant  from  Assisi  for  constant  con- 
sultation with  their  leader.  The  plea  was  doubtless  valid, 
if  the  most  desirable  thing  was  to  maintain  and  even 
increase  the  growth  of  the  order;  but  its  practical  result 
was  greatly  to  weaken  the  hold  of  Francis  upon  his 
followers. 

This  was  not  indeed  immediately  disastrous,  for  the 
fascination  of  Francis  had  not  yet  begun  to  lose  its  force. 
It  would  be  too  much  to  suppose  that  unworthy  men  had 
not  already  found  their  way  into  the  order ;  and,  as  after- 
ward appeared,  some  of  the  earliest  and  most  intimate 
disciples  of  Francis  had  no  real  sympathy  with  his  fun- 
damental aims,  and  did  not  at  heart  accept  his  rule  of 
poverty.  But  the  order  as  a  whole  was  pure,  devoted, 
united;  its  spirit  had  the  freshness  of  youth  and  the  in- 
vincible power  of  holy  enthusiasm;  there  was  a  passion- 
ate longing  for  service  in  the  fraternity  that  could  not  fail 
to  accomplish  great  results,  but  precisely  what  results  it 
was  not  given  men  to  foresee.  This  new  and  intense 
missionary  zeal  was  now  to  carry  the  order  forward 
through  every  country  of  Europe,  in  one  of  the  most 
fruitful  missionary  movements  of  the  centuries. 

Francis  himself,  as  was  befitting,  gave  his  followers 
an  example  which  was  none  the  less  inspiring  and  bril- 
liant because  it  was  unsuccessful.  For  a  long  time  he 
had  wished  to  go  on  a  mission  to  the  Saracens,  and  cir- 
cumstances had  now  conspired  to  make  possible  the  ful- 
filment of  the  desire  of  his  heart.  The  afifairs  of  his 
order  were  so  disposed  that  his  absence  would  be  possible 


190  CHRISTIAN   EPOCH-MAKERS 

without  great  disaster.  A  new  crusading  campaign  had 
been  begun  by  the  Christian  forces  in  Egypt,  and  Francis 
made  his  way  thither.  He  was  received  warmly  by  the 
crusaders  and  everything  possible  to  forward  his  mission 
was  done.  Little  was  possible,  however,  since  he  had 
set  his  heart  on  the  mad  project  of  preaching  the  gospel 
to  the  sultan  himself.  It  was  the  very  madness  of  the 
idea  that  preserved  Francis  from  instant  death.  When 
he  and  his  companion  came  within  the  Moslem  lines  they 
were  at  once  set  upon  and  narrowly  escaped  slaughter  on 
the  spot.  But  by  shouting  continually  the  one  word  of 
Arabic  that  he  knew,  "  Soldan !  Soldan !  "  Francis  man- 
aged to  convey  to  his  assailants  the  idea  that  he  wished 
to  be  brought  into  the  presence  of  their  prince,  and 
thither  he  was  finally  taken.  With  the  prince  he  had  two 
prolonged  interviews,  but  to  no  result,  save  the  demon- 
stration of  his  utter  fearlessness  when  in  the  path  of  what 
he  believed  to  be  his  duty.  He  won  the  respect  of  the 
prince,  but  not  his  faith,  and  was  at  length  returned  to 
the  Christian  camp  in  safety. 

Strange  to  say,  his  failure  in  no  wise  diminished  the 
prestige  of  Francis,  but  rather  increased  the  reverence 
in  which  he  was  held.  The  Moslems  had  treated  him 
with  that  consideration  that  they  always  show  to  the  in- 
sane, and  Christians  looked  upon  him  as  his  compan- 
ions must  have  looked  upon  Daniel  when  he  had  come  un- 
harmed out  of  the  den  of  lions,  holding  him  to  be  the 
special  favorite  of  God,  reserved  for  some  greater  thing 
than  the  glory  of  immediate  martyrdom.  H  he  had  not 
already  been  esteemed  a  saint  by  most,  this  exploit  of  his 
would  have  established  the  repute  of  sainthood  in  an  age 
like  the  thirteenth  century. 

In  the  spring  of  1220  he  returned  to  Europe  and  began 
once  more  to  concern  himself  about  the  fortunes  of  his 
order.     He  was  now  to  witness  its  rapid  perversion  and 


FRANCIS   OF   ASSISI  IQI 

steady  deterioration.  He  was  to  discover  how  com- 
pletely he  had  failed  to  realize  his  lofty  ideal,  and  that 
discovery  was  to  break  his  heart.  Pope  Honorius  III 
was  now  head  of  the  church,  and  as  alive  as  his  prede- 
cessor to  the  possible  value  of  the  Franciscans  if  they 
were  properly  controlled  and  directed.  The  only  proper 
; control,  of  course,  was  papal.  In  a  brief  dated  Sep- 
tember 22^  1220,  Honorius  established  entirely  new  terms 
of  membership.  Hitherto  men  who  felt  (or  professed  to 
feel)  a  divine  call  to  this  life  had  entered  on  it,  and  if 
their  inconstancy  or  unsuitableness  proved  their  vocation 
to  be  not  genuine,  they  had  been  free  to  leave  the  order. 
This  was  now  changed : 

In  almost  all  religious  families  it  has  been  wisely  established 
that  those  who  desire  to  practise  regular  observances  should  make 
a  trial  of  these  observances  during  a  determined  space  of  time, 
and  that  they  themselves  should  be  on  trial  also.  The  intention 
of  this  is  to  prevent  future  regrets  by  giving  no  opportunity  for 
inconsiderate  acts.  Wherefore  we  command  you  by  these  pres- 
ents henceforth  to  admit  no  brother  to  your  order  before  he 
shall  have  made  a  year's  probation;  and  for  the  same  reason  we 
will  that  when  once  this  profession  has  been  made  no  brother 
shall  be  able  to  leave  the  order;  and  if  any  one  does  leave  it,  we 
forbid  every  one  to  keep  with  him. 

In  1223  Honorius  III  first  gave  a  formal  charter  to  the 
order,  and  confirmed  a  rule  which  had  in  the  meantime 
been  drawn  up  ostensibly  by  Francis,  but  (one  suspects) 
really  imposed  on  him  by  Cardinal  Ugolino.  Francis 
was  now  a  second  time  chosen  general  of  the  order,  but 
held  the  office  only  a  single  year,  when  he  insisted  on 
resigning  his  duties  to  one  of  the  first  of  his  disciples. 
Francis  was  singularly  fitted  to  be  the  founder  of  such 
a  body,  and  as  singularly  unfitted  to  be  its  ruler  and 
guide.  The  spirit  that  giveth  life  he  could  supply,  none 
better;  the  letter  that  killeth  he  had  neither  desire  nor 
ability  to  administer.     He  retired  to  the  church  of  the 


192  CHRISTIAN   EPOCH-MAKERS 

Portiuncula,  which  he  had  rebuilt  as  his  earliest  work, 
and  there  his  life  closed  after  two  years  of  patient  waiting 
for  the  end. 

How  his  heart  ached  to  see  his  ideal  misunderstood, 
distorted,  contemned;  how  he  shrank  from  the  thought 
that  his  life  might  have  been  spent  in  vain;  how  he  de- 
spairingly made  one  last  effort  to  rescue  his  order  and 
keep  it  faithful  to  its  original  purpose,  we  may  learn  from 
his  will.  No  more  pathetic  document  exists ;  it  is  the  last 
cry  of  a  breaking  heart : 

When  the  Lord  gave  me  brothers,  no  one  showed  me  what  I 
ought  to  do,  but  the  Most  High  himself  revealed  unto  me  that  I 
ought  to  live  according  to  the  model  of  the  holy  gospel.  I 
caused  a  short  and  simple  rule  to  be  written,  and  the  lord  pope 
confirmed  it  for  me.  Those  who  came  to  observe  this  life  dis- 
tributed all  that  they  had  to  the  poor,  and  contented  themselves 
with  one  tunic  patched  within  and  without,  a  girdle  of  cord  and 
breeches,  and  we  wished  nothing  more.  .  .  I  worked  with  my 
hands,  and  will  continue  to  work,  and  I  will  also  that  all  other 
friars  work  at  some  honorable  trade.  Let  those  who  have  none 
learn,  not  for  recompense,  but  for  their  good  example  and  to 
repel  idleness.  And  when  they  do  not  give  us  the  price  of  our 
labor,  let  us  resort  to  the  table  of  the  Lord,  begging  our  bread 
from  door  to  door.  .  . 

Let  the  brothers  take  great  care  never  to  receive  churches, 
houses,  buildings  made  for  them,  except  so  far  as  such  are  in 
conformity  with  the  holy  poverty  we  have  vowed  in  the  rule; 
and  let  them  dwell  in  such  places  as  pilgrims  and  strangers. 

I  strictly  forbid  all  the  brothers,  in  whatever  place  they  may 
be  found,  whether  directly  or  indirectly,  to  demand  any  bull  from 
the  court  of  Rome,  under  pretext  of  church  or  convent,  or 
under  any  pretext  of  preachings,  not  even  for  their  personal 
protection.  If  they  are  not  received  anywhere,  let  them  go 
elsewhere,  thus  doing  penance  with  the  blessing  of  God.  .  . 

Let  not  the  brothers  say,  "This  is  a  new  rule";  for  this  is  a 
memorial,  a  warning,  an  exhortation;  it  is  my  will  that  I  little 
brother  Francis  make  for  you,  my  blessed  brothers,  that  we  may 
keep  in  a  more  catholic  manner  the  rule  that  we  promised  our 
Lord  to  keep. 


FRANCIS   OF   ASSISI  I93 

The  minister-general  and  all  the  other  ministers  and  guardians 
are  bound  by  obedience  to  add  nothing  and  to  take  nothing  from 
these  words.  Let  them  always  keep  this  writing  with  them,  to- 
gether with  the  rule;  and  in  all  the  chapters  that  shall  be  held, 
when  they  read  the  rule,  let  them  read  these  words  also. 

I  forbid  absolutely,  by  obedience,  all  the  brothers,  clerics,  or 
laymen  to  put  glosses  on  the  rule  and  on  this  writing,  saying, 
"  Thus  it  ought  to  be  understood."  But  since  the  Lord  has  given 
me  grace  to  speak  and  write  the  rule  and  these  words  in  a  clear 
and  simple  way,  let  them  be  understood  thus,  simply  and  without 
gloss,  and  let  them  be  practised  until  the  end. 

With  the  death  of  Francis  the  last  restraint  upon  the 
downward  course  of  his  order  was  removed.  Successive 
popes  did  all  in  their  power  to  undo  his  labors  and  nullify 
his  fundamental  rule  of  poverty.  Four  years  to  a  day 
from  the  making  of  the  will,  Pope  Gregory  IX  declared 
that  the  brothers  of  the  order  were  not  bound  to  obey 
these  injunctions  of  the  founder.  He  was  but  the  gen- 
eral of  the  order,  and  as  head  he  had  no  power  to  bind 
his  successors,  since  these  were  his  equals  in  authority. 
But  Francis  was  not  merely  the  general  of  the  order; 
he  was  its  creator;  his  successors  were  not  his  equals  in 
moral  authority.  He  had  put  the  stamp  of  his  own  per- 
sonality upon  his  society;  he  had  fixed  its  principles;  in 
a  sense  it  was  his  personal  possession;  and  no  moral  au- 
thority resided  in  anybody  else,  not  even  in  the  sover- 
eign pontiff,  to  modify  an  essential  idea  of  the  society. 
Gregory  might  properly  have  established  a  new  order, 
conformable  in  every  respect  to  his  own  ideas,  but  thus 
to  pervert  that  of  Francis,  while  still  retaining  his  name, 
was  as  great  an  outrage  as  even  the  papacy  has  ever 
committed. 

The  worthy  successor  of  Gregory,  Nicholas  HI,  com- 
pleted the  vile  work  by  the  publication  of  his  bull 
E.riit  in  1279,  in  which  he  subtly  held  that  while  the 
Franciscans  were  not  permitted  by  their  rule  to  have 


194  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

the  ownership  of  property,  they  might  enjoy  its  use.  The 
real  owner  of  all  the  property  they  acquired  was  the  pope, 
as  head  of  the  church ;  the  order  having  the  use  of  this 
property  by  his  special  permission  and  grace.  Such 
casuistry  would  not  deceive  a  child,  unless  he  wished  to 
be  deceived.  It  did  not  deceive  the  Franciscans,  but  it 
furnished  the  degenerate  part  of  the  order  with  the  thing 
they  desired — a  pretext  or  justification  for  abrogating  the 
rule  of  poverty.  Heiice forth  the  Franciscans  retained 
little  of  their  founder  but  his  name. 

Nevertheless  their  growth  continued  to  be  phenomenal, 
and  their  influence  was  still  salutary  in  the  main.  The 
growth  is  to  be  explained  in  part  by  the  great  privileges 
conferred  on  them  by  successive  popes.  The  first  of 
these,  the  indulgence  of  the  Portiuncula,  is  said  in  the 
later  legends  of  the  order  to  have  been  obtained  by  the 
founder  himself  through  special  petition  to  the  pope.  No 
record  confirms  this  tradition,  and  it  is  quite  irreconcilable 
with  what  we  know  of  Francis.  It  is  in  violent  conflict 
with  that  clause  of  his  will  which  forbids  the  brothers  to 
ask  any  special  privileges,  even  to  escape  persecution. 
It  is  incredible  that  he  should  have  forbidden  in  his  fol- 
lowers that  which  he  did  himself.  We  must  therefore 
treat  this  story  as  an  afterthought,  probably  a  deliberate 
invention,  and  a  very  clumsy  one,  obviously  intended  to 
break  the  force  of  this  prohibition  in  the  last  message  of 
Francis  to  his  order.  This  indulgence  of  the  Portiun- 
cula was  an  assurance  of  absolution  from  all  their  sins 
to  such  as  should  visit  the  church  and  say  certain  prayers 
on  the  second  day  of  August — the  anniversary  of  the 
dedication  of  this  church. 

By  successive  bulls — most  of  them,  it  is  to  be  feared, 
sought  in  flagrant  disobedience  to  the  command  of  Fran- 
cis— members  of  the  order  were  given  the  right  to  cele- 
brate mass,  with  closed  doors,  even  in  places  under  the 


FRANCIS   OF   ASSISI  I95 

papal  ban ;  to  preach  wherever  they  pleased,  without  first 
obtaining  the  permission  of  the  bishop  of  the  diocese ;  to 
hear  confession  and  give  absolution  anywhere  in  the  same 
manner.  These  were  unexampled  privileges  in  the 
church,  the  like  never  having  been  conferred  before  this 
upon  the  members  of  any  order.  Their  effect  was  to 
make  the  Franciscans  completely  independent  of  all  ec- 
clesiastical supervision  and  authority,  save  that  of  their 
general  and  the  pope. 

The  way  was  thus  opened  for  extensive  missionary 
operations.  The  order  was  still  young  and  comparatively 
uncorrupted.  Though  it  had  already  departed  widely 
from  the  ideas  of  Francis,  there  was  still  within  it  a  great 
enthusiasm  and  its  spiritual  povv^er  was  not  yet  seriously 
affected.  The  secular  clergy  of  Europe  were  ignorant, 
immoral,  self-seeking.  The  gray  friar,  professing  poverty 
and  humility,  clad  in  coarsest  cloth,  almost  in  rags, 
preaching  the  gospel  with  a  fiery  enthusiasm  unparalleled 
in  that  age,  and  never  surpassed  in  any  age,  easily  ob- 
tained and  held  the  ear  of  the  people.  No  wonder  the 
secular  clergy  complained  that  their  flocks  forsook  them 
to  run  after  these  wandering  friars.  In  every  country 
where  the  friars  went — and  they  went  everywhere — 
there  followed  a  widespread  revival  of  religion,  whose 
effects  were  manifest  in  the  life  of  the  people  for  a  cen- 
tury or  more.  Nowhere  is  this  a  more  conspicuous  fact 
than  in  England.  There  the  friars  were  received  with 
joy,  hailed  as  reformers,  as  restorers  of  religion  pure  and 
undefiled.  The  people  gave  them  their  unbounded  confi- 
dence and  affection,  and  heaped  wealth  upon  them  to  the 
impoverishment  of  the  secular  clergy,  and  even  of  them- 
selves and  their  families. 

And  then  followed  the  result  that  might  have  been 
anticipated:  the  friars  became  in  their  turn  more  cor- 
rupt,  indolent,   and   incompetent  than   even  the   secular 


196  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

clergy.  Their  laziness,  their  greed,  their  lust,  passed  into 
proverbs;  stories  of  their  ill  deeds  taint  all  the  literature 
of  the  fourteenth  century  and  make  it  unfit  for  reading. 
The  student  of  Chaucer  does  not  need  to  be  told  the  popu- 
lar estimate  of  the  morals  of  the  friars  in  his  day.  The 
age  of  Wiclif  is  a  time  in  which  the  friars  are  hated, 
feared,  despised,  ridiculed.  And  when  any  institution 
provokes  the  laughter  of  the  social  order,  its  fall  is  near. 

Many  things  of  interest  in  the  work  of  Francis  must 
be  passed  by,  because  they  are  not  germane  to  our  present 
inquiry.  For  light  on  them  the  curious  must  resort  to  the 
biographies  of  the  saint  and  the  histories  of  the  period. 
Among  these  interesting  things  to  be  passed  by  is  the 
establishment  of  the  second  order  of  the  Clarissines,  and 
the  relations  between  Francis  and  Clara.  But  we  cannot 
overlook  the  establishment  and  growth  of  the  third  order, 
which  was  a  missionary  agency  of  even  greater  impor- 
tance than  the  original  order,  and  realized  to  a  far  greater 
extent  the  fundamental  aims  of  Francis. 

Francis  was  a  child  of  the  people,  and  from  the 
moment  of  his  conversion  he  showed  a  passionate  at- 
tachment to  the  poor  and  sick,  the  neglected  and  op- 
pressed. And  Italy  during  the  thirteenth  century  was 
certainly  the  forlornest  of  European  countries.  For 
nearly  a  thousand  years  it  had  been  the  seat  of  incessant 
conflict;  times  without  number  armies  had  devastated  its 
fertile  plains  and  sacked  its  rich  cities.  The  feudal  sys- 
tem promised  and  for  a  time  gave  protection  to  life  and 
property;  and  under  the  smile  of  peace  agriculture  and 
industry  revived  and  the  development  of  a  new  civiliza- 
tion began.  But  this  development  was  checked  by  the 
later  conditions  of  feudalism.  Italy  was  split  up  into  a 
multitude  of  petty  principalities.  Scores  of  nobles,  dwell- 
ing in  impregnable  castles,  made  war  on  one  another  and 


FRANCIS   OF  ASSISI 


197 


levied  contributions  on  all  whom  they  could  reach.  Be- 
neath these  exactions  the  land  was  groaning.  Every 
able-bodied  man  was  compelled  to  render  military  serv- 
ice at  the  demand  of  his  lord,  and  could  cultivate  his 
fields  only  in  the  irregular  intervals  allowed  by  this  pred- 
atory warfare.  Most  of  the  work  of  agriculture  had  to 
be  carried  on  by  women  and  children  and  the  men  too 
old  or  too  crippled  to  fight.  Besides  this,  the  tenant  was 
subject  to  numerous  taxes  and  exactions  that  took  from 
him  most  of  what  he  was  able  to  produce. 

What  was  needed  was  something  that  would  strike  at 
the  very  root  of  these  evils,  and  the  third  order  of  Fran- 
cis did  precisely  that.  This  was  no  sudden  freak  on  his 
part,  but  the  fulfilment  of  a  settled  and  long-meditated 
purpose  to  help  the  people.  A  method  occurred  to  him 
that  could  not  fail  of  success,  if  it  were  approved  by  the 
church.  This  was  to  admit  to  his  brotherhood  all  ear- 
nest souls  who  desired  to  live  the  higher  life  of  the  spirit, 
but  could  not  withdraw  from  the  world — laymen,  mar- 
ried people,  any  and  all  who  would  take  upon  themselves 
very  simple  vows.  They  were  to  wear  a  habit  of  pre- 
scribed form  and  color,  to  live  according  to  the  command- 
ments of  God,  to  practise  fasting  and  prayer,  and  to  con- 
fess and  communicate  three  times  in  the  year.  A  simple 
rule  was  drawn  up  for  this  third  order,  with  the  advice 
and  assistance  of  Cardinal  Ugolino,  in  which  three  specific 
requirements  were  added  to  the  general  precepts : 

Chap.  VII.  The  brothers  must  carry  no  offensive  weapons, 
except  in  defense  of  the  church  and  the  faith  of  Jesus  Christ, 
or  in  defense  of  their  country,  or  with  the  permission  of  their 
superiors. 

Chap.  XII.  The  brothers  must  abstain  from  solemn  oaths, 
unless  they  are  constrained  by  necessity,  and  keep  within  the 
limits  of  cases  excepted  by  the  Holy  See. 

Chap.  XIII.  Each  brother  will  give  a  farthing  of  current 
money  to  the  treasurer,  who  will  collect  this  money  and  distrib- 


198  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

ute  it  suitably  according  to  the  advice  of  the  ministers  to  the 
brothers  and  sisters  who  are  destitute. 

The  effect  of  these  simple  rules  would  hardly  be  cred- 
ited by  one  who  had  not  studied  the  matter.  They  seem 
most  innocent,  but  they  were  the  most  severe  blov^  ever 
dealt  to  the  feudal  system.  Men  and  women  in  swarms 
joined  themselves  to  this  third  order  until,  as  contem- 
porary observers  tell  us,  it  seemed  as  if  the  whole  popu- 
lation of  Italy  had  suddenly  become  religious.  But 
though  there  was  no  doubt  some  religious  zeal  in  this 
movement,  something  other  than  religious  fervor  was  at 
the  bottom  of  it.  The  people  had  discerned  in  these  rules 
of  the  third  order  a  means  of  escape  from  their  bondage. 
When  the  princes  next  called  on  their  followers  to  take 
the  field,  those  who  had  hitherto  responded  with  out- 
ward alacrity  now  refused  obedience.  They  pleaded 
benefit  of  clergy,  and  asserted  that  they  were  members 
of  a  recognized  religious  order  of  the  church.  They  de- 
clined to  bear  arms  in  an  ordinary  secular  quarrel  and 
utterly  refused  the  usual  oaths  of  feudal  allegiance.  On 
being  pressed  they  applied  to  the  church  for  protection. 

And  they  received  it.  Cardinal  Ugolino  had  now  be- 
come pope,  as  Gregory  IX,  and  though  cases  are  not  un- 
known in  which  a  churchman  has  condemned  as  pope 
what  he  had  himself  done  as  cardinal,  Gregory  was  not 
in  this  case  ashamed  of  the  handiwork  of  Ugolino.  In 
a  bull  addressed  to  all  the  bishops  of  Italy  he  strongly 
condemned  the  great  feudatories,  comparing  them  to  the 
pharaohs  and  their  exactions  from  the  children  of  Israel. 
The  members  of  the  third  order  are  truly  religious,  he 
decided,  and  the  church  must  protect  them.  He  enjoins 
the  bishops  to  employ  all  necessary  censures  of  the 
church  to  insure  their  privileges  to  members  of  the 
order.  They  are  liable  neither  to  military  service  nor  to 
oaths,  but  a  money  compensation  they  might  be  fairly 


FRANCIS   OF   ASSISI  199 

called  upon  to  pay.  Here  the  third  of  the  rules  above 
quoted  became  operative:  those  who  were  unable  to  re- 
deem themselves  were  helped  in  the  payment  of  fines 
from  the  common  fund  thus  created. 

The  princes  did  not  give  up  the  contest  without  a  bitter 
struggle,  but  they  were  beaten  at  every  point.  The  whole 
power  of  the  church  was  exerted  for  the  protection  of 
the  third  order ;  again  and  again  papal  decrees  were  pro- 
nounced in  their  favor,  and  finally  the  princes  gave  way. 
The  people  were  in  great  part  emancipated,  and  the  decay 
of  the  feudal  system  was  thenceforth  rapid  and  remedi- 
less. And  what  thus  occurred  in  Italy  happened  to  a 
greater  or  less  extent  in  other  parts  of  Europe.  Among 
those  who  have  sought  to  secure  the  social  regeneration 
of  men  through  application  of  Christian  principles  to 
oppressive  conditions,  Francis  holds  a  high  place.  Out  of 
his  third  order  sprang  the  democratic  movement  in 
modern  Europe.    Once  more  the  Scripture  was  fulfilled : 

In  the  morning  sow  thy  seed, 

And  in  the  evening  hold  not  thy  hand; 

For  thou  knowest  not  which  shall  prosper, 

this  or  that, 
Or  whether  they  both  shall  be  alike  good. 

Among  men  born  of  woman  few  approach  more  nearly 
than  Francis  to  Jesus  of  Nazareth.  He  alone  among 
men  has  fully  believed  the  teaching  of  Jesus,  that  the 
very  Christ  dwells  in  the  poor  and  the  suffering,  and 
that  service  rendered  to  them  is  also  given  to  him  who  is 
Lord  of  all.  He  alone  saw  this  to  be  true,  because  he 
alone  lived  the  life  that  such  insight,  such  faith,  at  once 
implies  and  compels.  Fie  never  practised  self-denial  for 
his  own  sake ;  he  never  sought  holiness  by  the  false  path 
of  asceticism;  he  was  never  morbidly  anxious  about  his 
own  salvation ;  he  never  sat  created  being,  not  the  Virgin 
Mother  herself,  on  the  throne  that  belongs  to  the  Son  of 


200  CHRISTIAN   EPOCH-MAKERS 

God.  With  humility  and  patience  he  took  up  his  cross 
and  bore  it  after  his  Master,  and  with  him  he  was  cruci- 
fied to  the  world.  Through  this  death  he  became  also 
partaker  in  the  power  of  Christ's  resurrection,  being 
made  in  him  a  new  creation.  According  to  all  the  stand- 
ards of  this  world  he  lost  his  life,  threw  it  away  like  a 
worthless  bauble,  for  Christ's  sake  and  the  gospel's.  But 
how  gloriously  did  he  save  it !  The  name  of  Francis 
stands,  and  shall  stand  till  latest  time,  as  the  most  impres- 
sive commentary  on  those  words  of  our  Lord,  that  are  so 
dark  a  saying  to  the  natural  man,  "  Whoever  would  be- 
come great  among  you  shall  be  your  minister;  and  who- 
ever would  be  first  among  you,  shall  be  servant  of  all." 


XI 


XAVIER: 
THE   MISSIONS   OF  THE  JESUITS 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

The  principal  sources  are  S.  Francesci  Xavierii  e  Soc.  J. 
Indiarum  Apostoli  Epistolarum  Omnium  Libri  iv  (Bologna,  1795), 
of  which  there  is  a  translation  in  German  by  Joseph  Burg  (three 
vols.,  Coblenz,  1845)  ;  The  Testament  of  Ignatius  Loyola,  includ- 
ing fragments  of  autobiography,  taken  down  from  his  own  lips, 
by  Luis  Gonzales  (St.  Louis,  1900).  There  is  no  satisfactory 
biography.  Vos  (two  vols.,  Regensburg,  1877)  is  voluminous 
and  dry;  Coleridge  (two  vols.,  London,  1890)  is  uncritical,  the 
author  being  himself  a  Jesuit;  Venn  (London,  1862)  is  hostile 
and  bitter;  but  all  three  make  much  use  of  the  letters,  and  much 
may  therefore  be  learned  from  them.  McClean  (two  vols.,  Lon- 
don, 1895)  gixes  Xavier's  story  as  much  as  possible  in  his  own 
words.  For  the  growth  of  the  legends  regarding  Xavier's  mir- 
acles, see  an  interesting  passage  in  White,  Warfare  of  Science 
ivith  Religion,  Vol.  II,  pp.  5-22.  On  the  history  of  the  order 
there  is  abundant  material.  Daurignac,  History  of  the  Society  of 
Jesus  (Paris,  1863)  is  a  moderate  Roman  Catholic  work  (trans- 
lated, Cincinnati,  1865).  The  following  are  hostile  in  increasing 
ratio;  Steinmetz,  History  of  the  Jesuits  (two  vols.,  Philadelphia, 
1848) ;  Niccolini,  ib.  (Bohn  library,  London,  1854)  >  Griesinger, 
ib.  (two  vols.,  New  York,  1883).  Taylor,  Loyola  and  Jesuitism 
(New  York,  1883),  and  Rose,  Ignatius  Loyola  and  the  Early 
Jesuits  (London,  1891),  may  be  consulted  with  profit.  On  the 
Jesuits  in  North  America,  the  sources  are  to  be  found  in  the 
great  collection  of  The  Jesuit  Relations  and  Allied  Documents 
(seventy-three  vols.,  Cleveland,  1901).  The  essence  of  these  is 
compressed  into  Parkman's  three  books :  Pioneers  of  France  in 
the  New  World  (Boston,  1865)  ;  The  Jesuits  in  North  America 
(1867),  The  Discovery  of  the  Great  West  (1870).  There  are 
also  two  good  Roman  Catholic  monographs :  Shea,  History  of 
Catholic  Missions  Among  the  Indians  (New  York,  1856)  ; 
Donohoe,  The  Iroquois  and  the  Jesuits  (Buffalo,  1895).  Much 
light  is  thrown  on  the  origin  of  Christianity  in  Japan  as  well  as 
some  of  its  later  developments  by  Griffis,  Religions  of  Japan,  ch. 
xi  (New  York,  1895)  ;  Clement,  Christianity  in  Modern  Japan, 
ch.  vii  (Philadelphia,  1905)  ;  Murdoch  and  Ramagata,  History 
of  Japan  during  the  Century  of  Early  European  Intercourse. 


XI 

XAVIER  :  THE  MISSIONS  OF  THE  JESUITS 

NEVER  has  the  Church  of  Rome  ceased  to  be  the| 
friend  and  active  promoter  of  missionary  opera- 
tions. Whatever  we  may  think  of  her  motives,  the  fact 
remains  unquestionable.  Hostile  critics  may  maintain 
that  she  has  reversed  the  apostolic  rule,  and  that  her  motto 
should  be,  "  I  seek  not  you,  but  yours  " ;  that  the  increase 
of  the  wealth,  the  power,  the  prestige  of  the  church,  not 
obedience  to  Christ  or  the  salvation  of  the  heathen,  has 
ever  been  her  motive;  but  the  continuity  and  greatness 
of  her  missionary  operations  must  be  admitted. 

We  are  now  to  consider  one  of  the  most  remarkable  of 
all  these  movements,  undertaken  at  the  very  nadir  of  the 
church's  fortunes,  when  she  was  struggling  for  mere 
existence.  Already  the  Reformation  had  torn  from  the 
church  what  she  had  ever  esteemed  her  fairest  posses- 
sion, the  Holy  Roman  empire,  the  greater  part  of  which 
was  permanently  Protestant  and  the  remainder  fast  tend- 
ing in  the  same  direction.  The  Scandinavian  countries 
were  taking  the  first  steps  toward  reform,  and  evidently 
were  to  take  none  backward.  In  France  a  strong  Prot- 
estant party  was  formed,  and  the  horrors  of  civil  war 
had  begun,  with  the  issue  in  grave  doubt.  The  Nether- 
lands, Spain,  and  Italy  itself,  were  honeycombed  with 
heresy,  and  whether  they  could  be  saved  to  the  church 
yet  remained  to  be  proved.  Bohemia  and  Hungary  were 
seething  with  religious  and  political  discontent  of  long 
standing,  but  of  new  violence.  In  short,  the  Roman 
Church  was  in  desperate  straits,  and  the  most  hopeful 

203 


204  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

and  courageous  prelates  began  to  look  with  gloomy  appre- 
hension toward  the  future. 

Could  a  less  favorable  time  be  conceived  for  the  begin- 
ning of  the  most  extensive  missionary  enterprise  in  the 
history  of  the  church?  Could  there  be  a  more  convin- 
cing demonstration  of  the  vitality  and  recuperative  force 
of  the  Roman  Church  than  the  fact  that  such  a  mission- 
ary enterprise  was  undertaken  in  the  darkest  hour  of  its 
history?  Undertaken,  not  in  any  accidental  and  hap- 
hazard way,  but  of  deliberate  purpose,  and  resolutely 
prosecuted  until  it  attained  complete  success.  If  there 
are  many  things  in  the  history  of  the  Roman  Church  that 
call  forth  our  strongest  protest  and  condemnation,  there 
are  others  that  rouse  our  highest  admiration  and  respect. 

The  pioneer  in  this  great  missionary  work  was  Francis 
Xavier,  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  men  of  his  age.  He 
was  born  April  7,  1506,  in  Navarre,  of  a  noble  but  by  no 
means  wealthy  family,  and  through  his  mother  claimed 
kinship  with  the  kings  of  Navarre  and  the  house  of 
Bourbon.  He  became  a  student  at  the  University  of 
Paris  and  distinguished  himself  in  philosophical  studies, 
receiving  the  Master's  degree  (some  say  Doctor's)  from 
the  Sorbonne,  in  1530.  He  became  an  instructor  at  the 
College  of  Beauvais,  delivering  lectures  on  Aristotle. 
Some  of  the  teachers  at  Paris  during  his  student  days 
were  men  of  distinctly  evangelical  spirit,  and  Xavier  had 
for  a  time  tendencies  toward  Protestantism.  His  piety 
was  never  of  the  pure  Roman  type,  his  mind  having  a 
natural  bias  toward  the  mystical  and  spiritual  side  of 
religion.  He  was  also  during  these  earlier  years  some- 
what inclined  toward  a  life  of  gaiety  and  pleasure,  and 
developed  extravagant  tastes,  so  that  he  was  often  in 
financial  difficulties. 

Fortunately  or  unfortunately  for  himself,  one  can 
hardly  say  which,  he  was  brought  into  contact  with  a  man 


XAVIER  205 

of  far  stronger  nature,  though  of  less  learning  and  in- 
tellectual power,  who  became  the  decisive  force  in  his  life, 
Ignatius  Loyola,  who  had  come  to  Paris  to  pursue  studies 
that  would  fit  him  for  the  accomplishment  of  a  deeply 
cherished  purpose.  That  was  the  formation  of  a  spir- 
itual knighthood,  whose  object  should  be  the  salvation  of 
the  heathen,  especially  of  the  Turks.  To  the  scholarly 
and  pleasure-loving  Xavier  this  project  seemed  quixotic 
and  absurd,  and  he  covered  it  with  ridicule  when  it  was 
first  broached  to  him.  But  Loyola  did  not  flinch ;  he  had 
made  up  his  mind  to  win  this  brilliant  young  scholar,  and 
he  kept  patiently  at  it  until  success  crowned  his  efforts. 
He  placed  his  purse  at  Xavier's  command  and  thus  won 
his  heart.  He  discovered  that  there  was  a  boundless  am- 
bition concealed  beneath  the  gay  exterior  of  his  younger 
comrade,  and  he  played  upon  this  until  Xavier  became 
finally  a  complete  convert  to  the  project,  as  full  of  en- 
thusiasm as  he  had  previously  been  of  ridicule. 

Before  this,  Loyola  had  won  the  assent  of  another  stu- 
dent, already  in  priest's  orders,  Pierre  Lefevre,  a  native 
of  Savoy,  a  man  of  sagacious  intellect  and  fervid  imagina- 
tion. He  now  set  about  making  other  converts,  choosing 
them  with  the  greatest  care  and  deliberation,  and  after  a 
time  he  discovered  four  others  suited  to  his  purpose: 
Jacob  Laynez,  a  Castilian,  shrewd  and  well  educated, 
who  became  second  only  to  Loyola  himself  in  the  coun- 
sels of  the  order,  and  was  its  second  general;  Alphonso 
Salmeron,  the  youngest  of  all,  but  very  promising;  Nich- 
olas Alphons  (surnamed  Bobadilla,  from  his  birthplace), 
a  lecturer  on  philosophy,  like  Xavier,  and  Simon  Rod- 
riguez, a  Portuguese,  a  gloomy  fanatic  after  Loyola's  own 
heart.    Such  was  the  nucleus  of  the  Society  of  Jesus. 

At  first  Loyola  contented  himself  with  making  known 
his  project  in  general  terms,  and  securing  the  personal 
pledges  of  these  friends  to  join  him.  On  the  feast  of  As- 


206  CHRISTIAN   EPOCH-MAKERS 

sumption  (August  15)  in  1534  he  led  them  to  a  chapel  at 
Montmartre,  where  Lefevre  read  a  mass  and  administered 
the  holy  communion  to  the  rest,  and  then  they  took 
mutual  vows  of  poverty,  chastity,  and  obedience,  and  to 
fight  as  true  spiritual  knights  for  the  protection  of  the 
Holy  Roman  Church  and  its  supreme  head,  the  pope,  and 
for  the  extension  of  the  true  faith  among  unbelievers, 
ad  majoram  Dei  gloriam!  This  was  the  origin  of  the 
Society  of  Jesus,  though  as  yet  it  had  neither  name  nor 
constitution,  nor  the  recognition  of  the  church.  Some  of 
the  members  had  not  yet  completed  their  studies,  and 
others  had  unsettled  private  affairs;  to  the  latter  Loyola 
devoted  himself  with  characteristic  energy  and  a  meeting 
of  the  company  was  appointed  for  Venice,  early  in  1537, 
that  they  might  throw  themselves  at  the  feet  of  the  pope 
and  be  sent  to  Jerusalem,  or  wherever  he  might  appoint. 

Papal  favor  was  at  first  extended  to  the  new  society, 
and  Loyola  took  advantage  of  this  to  have  himself  and  his 
companions  ordained  to  the  priesthood.  But  when  the 
pope,  Paul  III,  came  to  the  point  of  definitely  authorizing 
the  society  in  a  bull,  he  hesitated  and  appointed  a  com- 
mission to  consider  the  matter.  Obstacles  of  various  kinds 
arose.  At  one  time  Loyola  himself  was  seriously  sus- 
pected of  heresy.  There  was  a  strong  sentiment  in  the 
church  against  the  establishment  of  new  orders.  The 
statutes  proposed  were  criticised  and  amended  and  criti- 
cised again.  But  the  obstacles  gradually  became  fewer 
and  less  formidable,  and  the  pope  finally  took  matters 
into  his  own  hands  and,  contrary  to  the  advice  of  many 
wise  counselors,  he  confirmed  the  order  in  the  bull 
Regemini  militantis  ecclesiae,  Sept.  2y,  1540. 

Before  this  had  been  done,  but  with  the  certainty  that 
it  would  be  done,  Loyola  had  been  elected  general  of  his 

1  "  To  the  greater  glory  of  God."  This  became  and  has  remained  the 
motto  of  the  Society  of  Jesus. 


XAVIER 


207 


order,  and  had  begun  to  assign  the  members  to  their  work. 
The  old  idea  of  a  mission  to  Jerusalem  had  to  be  aban- 
doned, because  of  a  new  war  declared  by  the  Turks  against 
the  Christian  powers  of  Eastern  Europe.  But  the  mis- 
sionary idea  was  not  abandoned;  on  the  contrary,  it  be- 
came the  fundamental  idea  of  the  Society  of  Jesus.  At 
home  or  abroad,  among  heretics  or  heathen,  the  mem- 
bers of  the  order  always  esteemed  it  their  first  duty  to 
make  converts  for  church  and  pope. 

Xavier  was  chosen  to  be  the  pioneer  missionary,  and 
was  despatched  to  India,  via  Lisbon,  March  16,  1540. 
Portugal  was  chosen  as  the  base  of  operations,  because 
the  Portuguese  had  a  flourishing  colony  in  India  at  that 
time,  and  the  new  mission  would  have  its  best  chance  of 
success  under  such  patronage  as  the  king  of  Portugal  could 
give.  Xavier  carried  letters  of  commendation  from  the 
pope,  and  at  once  won  the  favor  of  John  III  of  Portugal, 
who  did  everything  in  his  power  to  make  the  mission  a 
success.  Certainly  no  enterprise  of  this  kind  was  ever 
launched  with  more  splendid  advantages.  Xavier  was 
sent  out  as  a  special  envoy,  not  only  having  a  personal 
commission  from  the  pope,  but  another  from  the  king  of 
Portugal,  sailing  with  the  new  viceroy  as  an  intimate 
friend.  All  the  influence  of  the  church,  all  the  patron- 
age of  a  powerful  State  were  behind  him.  We  may  well 
contrast  these  great  advantages  with  the  conditions  under 
which  William  Carey  began  his  labors  in  India  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  years  later,  with  no  powerful  and  wealthy 
patrons ;  on  the  contrary,  with  all  the  powers  of  the  East 
India  Company  against  him.  And  it  is  not  uninstructive 
too,  to  compare  the  permanent  results  accomplished  by 
these  two  famous  missionaries. 

Xavier  landed  at  Goa,  May  6,  1542,  and  began  his  mis- 
sionary labors  at  once  and  with  great  ardor.  There  can 
be  no  more  favorable  account  of  the  labors  of  the  first 


2o8  CHRISTIAN  EPOCH-MAKERS 

year  than  the  one  he  himself  wrote  and  transmitted  to  his 
society  at  Rome.  Immediately  on  his  arrival,  he  had  the 
Creed,  the  Lord's  Prayer,  the  Ave  Maria,  and  the  Deca- 
logue translated  into  the  vernacular.  These  he  made 
shift  to  learn  how  to  pronounce  and  committed  them  to 
memory.  This  remained,  through  the  seven  years  of  his 
life  and  work  in  India,  his  sole  acquisitions  in  the  native 
languages.  For  the  rest,  he  was  dependent  on  the  serv-, 
ices  of  an  interpreter.  His  missionary  methods  he  thus 
describes : 

I  have  begun  to  go  through  all  the  villages  of  this  coast  with 
bell  in  hand,  collecting  together  a  large  concourse  both  of  boys 
and  men.  Bringing  them  twice  a  day  into  a  convenient  place,  I 
gave  them  Christian  instruction.  The  boys,  in  the  space  of  a 
month,  have  committed  all  to  memory  beautifully.  Then  I  told 
them  to  teach  what  they  had  learned  to  their  parents,  household, 
and  neighbors.  On  Sundays  I  called  together  the  men  and 
women,  boys  and  girls,  into  a  sacred  edifice.  They  came  together 
with  great  alacrity,  and  with  an  ardent  desire  to  hear.  Then  I 
began  with  the  Confession  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  the  Lord's 
Prayer,  the  Angelic  Salutation,  the  Apostles'  Creed,  pronouncing 
them  in  their  own  language  with  a  clear  voice.  All  followed 
me  in  the  repetition,  in  which  they  take  an  uncommon  pleasure. 
Then  I  went  through  the  Creed  alone,  pausing  upon  each  article, 
asking  whether  they  believed  without  any  doubt.  All  in  an 
equally  confident  tone,  with  their  hands  in  the  form  of  a  cross 
upon  their  breasts,  affirmed  that  they  truly  believed  it.  I  direct 
them  to  repeat  the  Creed  oftener  than  the  other  prayers,  and 
teach  them,  at  the  same  time,  that  those  who  believe  the  things 
contained  in  the  Creed  are  called  Christians.  I  inculcate  the 
Decalogue  in  the  same  manner,  that  I  may  show  that  the  Chris- 
tian law  is  contained  in  those  ten  precepts,  and  that  whoever 
keeps  all  these  as  he  should  do  is  a  good  Christian,  and  attains 
to  eternal  salvation.  On  the  other  hand,  that  whoever  neglects 
one  of  these  is  a  bad  Christian,  and  will  be  thrust  into  hell 
unless  he  truly  repents  of  his  sin.  At  these  things  both  the 
neophytes  and  the  heathen  are  astonished  as  soon  as  they  perceive 
how  holy  is  the  Christian  law,  how  consistent,  how  agreeable  to 
reason.  After  this  I  am  accustomed  to  pronounce  the  Lords' 
Prayer  and  Ave  Maria,  they  following  me.     Then  in  the  same 


XAVIER  209 

way  we  say  over  again  the  articles  of  the  Creed,  that  we  may, 
after  each  article,  recite  a  Pater  and  an  Ave  together,  with  a 
certain  versicle :  namely,  when  they  have  chanted  the  first  article 
of  the  behef,  I  say  before  them  this  versicle  in  their  native 
tongue:  "Jesus,  Son  of  the  living  God,  grant  us  that  we  may 
fully  believe  this  first  article  of  the  Christian  faith,  to  obtain 
which  from  thee  we  offer  to  thee  this  prayer  which  thou  hast 
appointed."  Then  to  the  other  we  add  this  versicle :  "  Holy  Mary, 
the  mother  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  obtain  for  us  from  your 
most  precious  Son  that  we  may  believe,  without  any  doubt,  this' 
article  of  the  Christian  faith."  We  pursue  the  same  method  in 
the  other  eleven  articles  of  the  Creed. 

We  then  inculcate  the  precepts  of  the  Decalogue,  chiefly  in  this 
method;  when  we  have  chanted  the  first  commandment  upon 
the  love  of  God,  we  pray  together,  "  O  Jesus  Christ,  Son  of  the 
living  God,  grant  that  we  may  love  thee  above  all."  Then  we 
say  the  Lord's  Prayer.  Afterwards  we  all  chant  together,  "  Holy 
Mary,  mother  of  Jesus  Christ,  obtain  from  thy  Son  that  we  may 
diligently  keep  his  first  commandment."  Then  we  add  the 
Angelic  Salutation.  The  same  method  is  followed  in  the  other 
nine  commandments,  the  versicles  being  varied  according  to  the 
matter.  These  are  the  things  which  I  accustom  them  to  ask  of 
God  in  their  prayers;  and  I  assure  them  that  if  they  shall  have 
obtained  these  things,  other  blessings  will  follow  in  greater 
abundance  than  they  can  ask.  I  then  command  all,  as  well  as 
those  to  be  baptized,  to  recite  the  form  of  general  confession; 
and  as  they  repeat  the  Creed,  I  ask  them  at  each  article  whether 
they  believe  without  doubting.  Upon  their  assent  I  add  an  exhor- 
tation, composed  in  their  own  tongue,  in  which  the  sum  of  the 
Christian  religion  and  of  the  discipline  necessary  to  salvation  is 
briefly  explaiued.  Afterwards  I  baptize  those  who  have  been 
instructed.  The  close  of  the  ceremony  is  a  Salve  Regina,  by 
which  we  implore  the  help  and  assistance  of  the  Blessed  Virgin." 

How  great  is  the  multitude  of  those  who  are  gathered  into  the 
fold  of  Christ  you  may  learn  from  this,  that  it  often  happens  to 
me  that  my  hands  fail  through  the  fatigue  of  baptizing,  for  I 
have  baptized  a  whole  village  in  a  single  day;  and  often,  by  re- 
peating so  frequently  the  Creed  and  other  things,  my  voice  and 
strength  have  failed  me. 

I  have  given  this  long  letter,  without  abbreviation,  be- 
cause it  so  admirably  illustrates  several  things.    It  shows 
o 


2IO  CHRISTIAN   ErOCH-MAKERS 

how  indefatigable  Xavier  was,  fairly  wearing  out  his  not 
too  robust  body,  in  his  missionary  labors.  The  constant 
addressing  of  large  crowds  is  a  tremendous  physical 
strain,  as  anybody  accustomed  to  public  speech  knows, 
and  as  men  unaccustomed  to  such  speech  often  discover 
in  a  political  campaign  or  some  similar  labor.  Few  men 
can  endure  the  strain  for  more  than  a  few  weeks,  unless 
they  are  so  happy  as  to  learn  how  to  use  their  voices  with 
least  expenditure  of  power,  but  having  once  learned  that, 
they  can  continue  almost  indefinitely.  For  years  John 
Wesley,  a  man  of  slight  physique  and  of  weak  voice  at  the 
outset,  preached  twice  and  often  thrice  a  day,  mostly  in 
the  open  air  and  to  large  crowds,  almost  without  know- 
ing what  illness  or  even  great  fatigue  meant.  It  is  doubt- 
ful if  Xavier  ever  learned  this  secret,  but  not  even 
Wesley  surpassed  him  in  the  energy  and  persistence  with 
which  he  labored.  And  in  this  he  was  but  the  forerunner 
and  type  of  all  the  Jesuit  missionaries.  With  exceptions, 
to  be  sure,  they  have  as  a  body  been  men  of  marvelous 
energy,  intrepidity,  persistence,  and  resource. 

But  the  narrative  quoted  also  illustrates  the  methods  of 
the  Roman  missionary  in  all  ages  and  among  all  peoples. 
Xavier  was  fully  convinced  that  the  heathen  could  be 
saved,  first  by  instructing  them  in  the  tenets  of  the 
Christian  faith — by  catechizing  them  in  short — and  then 
administering  to  them  the  sacrament  of  baptism,  by  which 
they  were  cleansed  from  their  sins  and  made  heirs  of  God 
and  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  So  believing,  he  conducted 
himself  accordingly.  And  all  other  Roman  missionaries 
have  had  the  same  belief,  and  have  practised  similarly. 
What  a  caricature  of  true  missionary  work  that  letter  pre- 
sents, I  need  not  pause  to  point  out ;  every  phrase  as  it  is 
read  must  deeply  impress  this  upon  every  one.  In  all 
Roman  literature  I  doubt  if  a  passage  would  be  producible 
that  should  set  forth  the  Roman  theory  and  practice  of 


XAVIER  211 

missions  in  more  glaring  contrast  to  the  teaching  of  the 
Scriptures  and  the  practice  of  Protestant  missionaries. 

One  other  thing  should  be  added  to  illustrate  Roman 
methods.  It  was  the  constant  practice  of  Xavier  to  bap- 
tize all  infants  brought  to  him,  and  all  others  whose 
parents  he  could  persuade  to  permit  the  ceremony,  and 
so  it  is  little  wonder  that  he  boasts  in  another  letter,  ''  I 
have  made  ten  thousand  Christians  in  a  single  month." 
Undoubtedly  he  had  made  them — it  is  quite  evident  that 
God  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  matter.  But  later  Jesuit 
missionaries  do  not  seem  to  have  been  quite  so  reckless  in 
their  procedure  as  Xavier.  The  Jesuits  among  the  Indian 
tribes  only  baptized  babes  about  to  die,  in  order  that  they 
might  be  certain  of  heaven ;  others  they  permitted  to  grow 
up  heathen  and  take  their  chance — a  proceeding  more 
sensible,  but  possibly  less  Catholic,  than  Xavier's. 

Lest  it  should  seem  incredible  that  any  missionary 
should  attempt  to  carry  on  a  work  so  extensive  and  so 
prolonged  without  a  serious  effort  to  learn  the  native  lan- 
guage, and  should  submit  for  seven  long  years  to  helpless 
dependence  upon  an  interpreter,  let  me  quote  again  from 
Xavier's  own  words,  and  so  clear  myself  from  suspicion 
of  having  misrepresented  or  even  misunderstood  him  : 

Here  I  am,  almost  alone  from  the  time  that  Anthony  remained 
sick  at  Manapar ;  and  I  find  it  a  most  inconvenient  position  to  be 
in  the  midst  of  a  people  of  an  unknown  tongue,  without  the  as- 
sistance of  an  interpreter.  Roderick,  indeed,  who  is  now  here 
acts  as  an  interpreter  in  the  place  of  Anthony;  but  you  know 
well  how  much  they  know  of  Portuguese.  Conceive  then  what 
kind  of  life  I  live  in  this  place,  what  kind  of  sermons  I  am  able 
to  address  to  the  assemblies,  when  they  who  should  repeat  my 
address  to  the  people  do  not  understand  me  nor  I  them.  I  ought 
to  be  an  adept  in  dumb  show.  Yet  I  am  not  without  work,  for 
I  want  no  interpreter  to  baptize  infants  just  born,  or  those  which 
their  parents  bring;  nor  to  relieve  the  famished  and  the  naked 
who  come  in  my  way.  So  I  devote  myself  to  these  two  kinds  of 
good  works,  and  do  not  regard  my  time  as  lost. 


212  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

This  letter  bears  date  August  21,  1544,  and  other  letters 
prove  that  he  continued  this  method  to  the  end  of  his  stay 
in  India. 

Our  chief  source  of  information  regarding  the  labors 
of  Xavier  is  his  own  voluminous  letters  to  his  general, 
which  were  many  years  ago  edited  and  published  and  have 
been  translated  into  many  languages.  In  these  docu- 
ments we  may  see  his  likeness,  as  in  a  mirror.  His  was. 
a  nature  of  excessive  sensibility,  prone  to  all  extremes 
of  both  joy  and  sorrow,  at  one  time  sanguine  beyond  all 
that  sound  judgment  could  approve,  and  again  plunged 
into  the  depths  of  an  irrational  pessimism.  Hence  there 
are  many  perplexing  discrepancies  and  contradictions  in 
his  correspondence,  some  of  which  are  so  glaring  as  to  lead 
readers  to  question  his  veracity.  This  is,  however,  a  hasty 
and  uncharitable  judgment.  He  was  true  to  the  mood  of 
the  moment  as  he  wrote,  but  his  temperament  exposed 
him  to  rapid  transitions  of  feeling.  Certainly  he  was  free 
from  what  has  been  described  as  the  vice  of  small  minds, 
consistency.  If  to  say  a  thing  to-day  and  contradict  it 
point  blank  to-morrow  be  a  proof  of  large-mindedness, 
Francis  Xavier  had  one  of  the  most  capacious  intellects 
in  the  history  of  mankind. 

The  miracles  attributed  to  him  by  later  writers  find  no 
support  in  these  letters.  The  one  case  in  which  he  comes 
nearest  to  making  such  a  claim  for  himself  was  that  of 
a  native  woman  who  had  been  in  labor  three  days  until 
her  life  was  despaired  of.  Xavier  conversed  with  her, 
drew  from  her  a  formal  confession  of  faith,  and  baptized 
her,  whereupon  she  was  safely  delivered  of  her  child. 
The  babe  and  husband  were  also  baptized,  and  "  imme- 
diately the  report  of  the  divine  miracle  performed  in  that 
house  spread  throughout  the  whole  village."  But  it  was 
the  efficacy  of  the  baptism,  not  any  power  of  his  own,  to 
which  Xavier  plainly  attributed  the  healing — in  which, 


XAVIER 


213 


truly,  only  a  superstition  equal  to  that  of  the  heathen 
themselves  could  see  anything  miraculous. 

The  seven  years  of  labor  in  India  ended  with  a  con- 
fession of  failure.  Xavier,  in  his  great  disappointment, 
endeavored  to  persuade  the  king  of  Portugal  to  bring 
great  pressure  to  bear  on  his  viceroys  and  governors,  so 
that  these  officers  should  use  their  power  to  bring  the 
natives  into  the  church.  In  case  few  neophytes  were 
added  to  the  church  in  his  domains,  a  governor  should  be 
punished  on  his  return  to  Portugal  by  close  imprisonment 
for  many  years,  and  all  his  goods  and  possessions  should 
be  sold  and  devoted  to  charity.  No  excuses  for  failure 
should  be  accepted;  it  should  be  clearly  understood  that 
the  only  way  to  avoid  punishment  should  be  to  make  as 
many  Christians  as  possible  in  the  country  over  which  the 
envoy  presided.  This  is  a  truly  original  scheme  of  mis- 
sionary work  to  set  before  a  king!  What  a  sweetly  be- 
nevolent ruler  a  man  like  Xavier  would  make,  if  a  despot's 
power  were  put  into  his  hands. 

Utterly  disheartened  by  the  obstacles  he  had  met,  and 
realizing  the  unsatisfactory  character  of  the  numerous 
Christians  he  had  "  made,"  Xavier  abandoned  India  and 
sought  other  fields  of  labor.  "  Abandoned  "  is  perhaps 
a  strong  word;  he  still  retained  his  place  of  authority  as 
director  of  the  mission,  which  was  now  thoroughly  or- 
ganized and  strongly  manned,  but  his  own  personal  labors 
were  henceforth  turned  into  other  channels.  It  is  cer- 
tainly to  be  noted  that  he  showed  not  the  slightest  idea  of 
abandoning  his  missionary  calling,  because  his  labors  had 
been  less  fruitful  than  he  had  hoped  in  India.  To  this 
service  he  believed  himself  called  of  God,  as  well  as  ap- 
pointed by  his  superior.  In  no  letter  does  he  breathe  a 
desire  to  return  home;  his  nearest  approach  to  it  is  in 
response  to  a  wish  of  Ignatius  to  see  him,  and  his  reply 
is  that,  though  this  seems  impossible,  he  will  not  abandon 


214  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

the  hope  of  once  more  embracing  his  friend.  But  this  is 
the  voice  of  affection,  not  of  purpose.  Xavier  had  de- 
voted himself  to  missions  in  Asia  for  Hfe  and  for  death, 
and  to  return  to  Europe  was  to  him  an  impossibiHty.  One 
cannot  but  admire  this  inflexibihty  of  will,  this  energy 
of  soul,  in  spite  of  the  defects  of  character  and  the 
mistakes  of  policy  by  which  it  was  accompanied. 

Early  in  1549  Xavier  received  information  about  Japan 
that  convinced  him  of  the  readiness  of  that  country  to  re- 
ceive the  gospel.  He  became  eager  to  go  thither,  and  in 
the  summer  of  the  same  year  the  way  was  opened  for  him. 
Experience  had  made  him  less  sanguine  perhaps,  certainly 
more  prudent,  and  in  his  new  field  he  did  not  attempt  the 
wholesale  and  immediate  conversion  of  the  people.  "  In 
the  space  of  a  year,  more  than  one  hundred  were  brought 
into  the  fold  of  Christ,"  was  his  first  report  of  results. 
He  was  heard  with  respect,  the  highest  dignitaries  per- 
mitting him  ''  to  expound  the  divine  law  "  in  their  pres- 
ence. As  the  result  of  one  such  hearing  he  writes :  "  We 
remained  in  that  city  many  days,  speaking  to  the  people 
in  the  streets  and  market-places.  Many  earnestly  listened 
to  the  great  facts  of  Christianity,  and  they  could  not 
retain  their  tears  when  we  described  the  most  bitter  death 
of  Christ.  Notwithstanding,  very  few  were  brought  to 
accept  baptism."  A  great  difference,  surely,  between 
these  moderate  statements  and  the  boast  of  converts  by 
the  thousand  during  the  first  years  of  his  work  in  India. 
There  were  some  notable  conversions  among  the  educated 
and  influential  classes  and  the  Japanese  mission  was  ap- 
parently established  on  a  firm  foundation  when,  at  the 
end  of  two  years,  Xavier  left  the  country.  The  Japanese 
were  in  truth,  as  he  had  been  informed,  ready  for  the 
acceptance  of  Christianity,  and  there  was  every  prospect 
of  a  great  work  among  them.  For  about  forty  years  the 
mission  continued  with  marked   success:   and  then  the 


XAVIER  215 

propensity  of  the  Jesuits  for  political  intrigue,  in  every 
country  they  entered,  brought  about  a  bloody  catastrophe. 
In  1637  the  emperor  of  Japan  discovered,  or  believed  that 
he  discovered,  a  plot  for  his  overthrow  in  which  the 
missionaries  had  participated,  and  gave  orders  for  a  gen- 
eral massacre  of  the  Christians,  who  accordingly  perished 
to  the  number,  it  is  said,  of  thirty-seven  thousand.  While 
definite  proof  of  their  guilt  is  lacking,  it  must  be  said  that 
there  is  nothing  in  the  conduct  of  the  missionaries  or  in 
the  history  of  their  order,  to  make  the  charge  incredible, 
but  that  exactly  the  reverse  is  true. 

It  was  no  part  of  Xavier's  purpose,  apparently,  to  re- 
main permanently  in  Japan,  and  he  made  no  effort  to 
acquire  the  language  during  his  stay  there.  And  yet  his 
later  Roman  biographers  did  not  hesitate,  in  spite  of 
evidence  to  the  contrary  in  his  own  letters,  to  attribute  to 
him  the  miraculous  gift  of  tongues,  nor  to  record,  as  a 
signal  proof  of  the  divine  blessing  upon  his  work,  his 
eloquent  sermons  to  the  natives  in  their  vernacular,  in 
consequence  of  which  multitudes  were  converted.  Such 
are  what  are  called,  in  the  Roman  Church,  "  pious  narra- 
tives." There  may  be  much  piety  in  the  invention  of 
such  tales,  but  there  is  great  dearth  of  intelligence.  The 
purpose  of  Xavier  was  to  continue  in  his  function  of 
director  of  missions,  to  enter  new  fields  and  organize 
missions  there,  so  long  as  his  life  should  continue.  For 
this  work  he  undoubtedly  had  special  gifts.  China  was 
the  field  that  next  engaged  his  attention,  but  he  was  fated 
never  to  enter  that  country.  Though  he  was  now  only 
forty-five,  his  labors  had  told  upon  him  more  than  he  was 
aware.  While  in  Japan,  he  writes  to  his  superior: 
"  Though  my  hair  is  white,  yet  I  am  as  strong  and  vigor- 
ous as  ever,"  but  such  was  by  no  means  the  case.  So 
impaired  had  his  constitution  become  that  the  onset  of  any 
serious  disease  was  likely  to  be  fatal.    Some  inkling  that 


2l6  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

the  end  was  near  is  discernible  in  the  prophetic  words  of 
a  later  letter:  "  I  shall  succeed  in  opening  it  [China]  for 
others,  for  I  can  do  nothing  myself."  In  his  efforts 
to  get  to  the  land  he  had  chosen  he  was  continually 
thwarted.  He  planned  to  be  sent  on  an  embassy,  and 
under  color  of  a  political  mission  to  find  an  opportunity 
for  beginning  his  religious  work ;  but  this  plan  was  frus- 
trated by  the  governor  of  Malacca,  whose  excommunica- 
tion he  indignantly  demanded  in  consequence.  Finally  he 
succeeded,  alone  and  unattended,  in  reaching  the  island  of 
San  Chan,  whence  he  hoped  to  reach  Canton  in  some  way. 
Here  he  was  attacked  by  a  fever,  and  lingered  for  two 
weeks,  not  having  even  a  servant  to  minister  to  him  in  his 
last  hours,  dependent  on  the  kindness  of  some  Portuguese 
merchants.  On  Friday,  December  2,  about  two  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon,  he  fixed  his  eyes  upon  the  crucifix,  his 
face  lighted  up  with  joy,  and  murmuring  the  closing 
words  of  the  Te  Deum — In  te  Domine  speravi,  non  con- 
fundar  in  aetermim — his  spirit  departed. 

Roman  Catholic  writers  have  so  overrated  both  the 
character  and  achievements  of  Xavier  that  a  Protestant  is 
under  strong  temptation  to  underrate  them.  What  is  a 
candid  and  temperate  summary  of  the  results  achieved 
by  him  ?  First,  we  may  say,  the  consolidation  of  the  Por- 
tuguese missions  in  India,  their  organization,  and  an  im- 
petus given  to  their  prosecution  that  they  did  not  soon 
lose.  The  caste  of  fishermen  at  Goa  among  whom  he 
preached  are  said  to  be  Christians  to  this  day.  Secondly, 
the  opening  of  Japan  and  China  to  Christian  missions. 
For  though  his  mission  in  Japan  ended  in  disaster,  though 
he  never  set  foot  on  Chinese  soil,  it  was  in  consequence  of 
what  he  attempted,  as  much  as  of  what  he  accomplished, 
that  the  Christian  world  never  after  quite  lost  the  convic- 
tion of  duty  to  send  the  gospel  to  these  two  great  nations 
of  the  East.    Every  missionary  in  Japan  or  China  to-day 


XAVIER  217 

is,  in  some  sort,  a  successor  of  Francis  Xavier.  But  his 
greatest  achievement  was  the  incentive  and  encourage- 
ment that  his  Hfe  has  given  to  the  missionary  cause  for 
almost  four  centuries.  On  the  long  roll  of  missionary 
worthies  may  be  found  the  names  of  some  who  equaled 
Xavier  in  the  intensity  of  their  conviction,  in  the  com- 
pleteness of  their  devotion,  in  their  heroic  constancy,  but 
none  that  surpass  him. 

We  must  not  forget,  however,  that  we  are  to  study  not 
merely  a  man,  but  a  movement.  Francis  Xavier  is  merely 
the  first  and  the  most  famous  of  the  vast  numbers  of  his 
order  who  gave  themselves  with  equal  devotion  and  zeal 
to  the  work  of  missions.  There  was  almost  literally  no 
quarter  of  the  globe  to  which  they  did  not  penetrate 
within  the  next  two  centuries.  Their  shrewdness  and  tact, 
their  disinterestedness  and  self-abnegation,  their  courage 
and  fortitude,  their  charity  and  kindness,  their  spiritual 
gifts  and  skill  in  affairs,  constituted  them  perhaps  the 
most  marvelous  class  of  missionaries  in  the  whole  history 
of  Christianity. 

Especially  noteworthy  were  their  achievements  on  this 
continent.  The  order  was  founded  just  as  the  coloniza- 
tion of  the  New  World  by  the  Catholic  powers  of  Europe 
was  fairly  beginning,  and  along  with  the  explorers  who 
set  out  to  find  this  Eldorado,  the  adventurers  who  went  in 
quest  of  this  new  Atlantis,  went  the  Jesuit  missionary. 
He  was  with  Ponce  de  Leon  and  Coronado  and  De  Soto 
in  their  mad  search  for  illimitable  wealth  or  the  fountain 
of  youth,  not  that  he  might  share  in  their  gold,  but  that 
he  might  win  the  natives  to  the  true  faith.  He  was  with 
Cortez  in  Mexico  and  with  Pizarro  in  Peru,  with  the  same 
holy  purpose.  And  when  Champlain  sailed  into  the 
waters  of  St.  Lawrence  and  founded  Quebec,  he  was 
speedily  there  too. 

Time  would  fail  me  to  tell  even  a  small  part  of  the 


2l8  CHRISTIAN   EPOCH-MAKERS 

story  of  these  missions — what  the  Jesuit  did  to  win  these 
heathen  peoples  to  the  rehgion  of  Christ  as  he  under- 
stood it,  and  what  he  made  of  them  after  he  had  won 
them.  The  reHgious  and  moral  condition  of  the  Spanish- 
American  peoples  to-day  is  the  best  commentary  on  the 
real  value  of  his  work,  supplemented,  as  it  has  been,  by 
two  or  three  centuries  of  Christian  education — such  as  it 
was — carried  on  without  let  or  hindrance  by  the  Roman 
priesthood — such  as  it  was. 

As  a  type  of  all  these  missions  let  us  briefly  consider 
one,  the  history  of  which  has  been  fully  told  from  the 
original  documents  by  our  greatest  historian,  Francis 
Parkman,  in  his  "  Jesuits  of  North  America."  To  those 
who  know  the  perfect  lucidity  of  that  incomparable  writer 
in  the  marshaling  of  his  facts,  his  intellectual  acuteness 
in  their  interpretation,  the  perfect  naturalness  of  his  nar- 
rative, the  brilliance  of  his  style,  I  shall  seem  guilty  of  no 
mock  modesty  in  saying  that  I  attempt  with  great  reluc- 
tance to  summarize  in  a  few  paragraphs  his  wonderful 
book.  To  those  who  do  not  know  him,  I  can  only  com- 
mend the  careful  study  of  his  works  as  the  most  perfect 
examples  in  our  language,  both  in  substance  and  in 
manner,  of  how  history  should  be  written. 

The  Jesuit  missionaries  had  moderate  success  among 
all  the  Indian  tribes  along  the  Great  Lakes  westward  to 
the  Mississippi,  but  it  was  among  the  Hurons  that  their 
great  triumph  was  won.  The  home  of  this  tribe  or  nation 
was  in  Canada,  along  the  lake  to  which  they  have  given 
their  name,  and  they  may  have  numbered  twenty  thou- 
sand. They  were  akin  to  the  Five  Nations  or  Iroquois, 
who  held  most  of  the  region  now  forming  the  State  of 
New  York,  but  the  relationship  was  of  the  kind  that  ag- 
gravates enmity  rather  than  cements  friendship.  For 
some  reason  not  easy  to  explain,  the  first  Jesuits  met  with 
a  favorable  reception  from  this  people,  and  a  flourishing 


XAVIER  219 

mission  was  soon  planted  among  them.  Converts  were 
made  rapidly,  some  of  the  arts  of  civilization  were  taught 
them,  a  convent  and  a  hospital  were  established,  and  that 
the  whole  nation  would  have  been  Christianized  in  no  long 
time  is  morally  certain. 

How  the  enmity  first  began  between  Hurons  and  Iro- 
quois is  unknown,  but  it  was  nearing  its  height  when  the 
mission  was  begun,  and  the  Iroquois  had  fallen  into  '*  one 
of  those  transports  of  pride,  self-confidence,  and  rage  for 
ascendancy  which,  in  a  savage  people,  marks  an  era  of 
conquest."  They  outnumbered  the  Hurons  very  little,  if 
any,  but  their  moral  superiority  was  great.  To  annihilate 
their  rivals  had  become  their  ruling  passion,  and  they 
showed  in  the  execution  of  their  project  all  the  subtlety 
and  cunning  that  tradition  attributes  to  the  American  In- 
dian, together  with  a  patient  persistence  not  so  generally 
supposed  to  be  characteristic  of  savages.  Though  the 
Hurons  knew  their  danger,  they  could  not  be  persuaded  to 
take  adequate  measures  for  defense  or  even  ordinary  pre- 
cautions. The  blow  fell  with  the  suddenness  and  fierce- 
ness usual  in  savage  warfare.  The  Huron  nation  was 
practically  annihilated  in  a  day,  and  the  brightest  beacon 
lighted  in  the  wilderness  by  the  Jesuit  missionaries  was 
extinguished  in  blood. 

The  missionaries  themselves  suffered  a  terrible  fate. 
Some  were  fortunate  enough  to  be  killed  in  the  first  onset, 
but  the  others  were  reserved  for  the  usual  fate  of  cap- 
tives, death  by  torture.  Mr.  Parkman's  account  of  the 
death  of  Jean  de  Brebeuf,  the  founder  of  the  Huron  mis- 
sion, a  man  of  noble  race  and  of  noble  heart,  of  enor- 
mous stature  and  strength,  and  of  mental  and  spiritual 
gifts  that  would  have  made  him  a  leader  anywhere,  is  in 
these  words: 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  sixteenth— the  day  when  the  two 
priests  were  captured — Brebeuf  was  led  apart  and  bound  to  a 


220  CHRISTIAN   EPOCH-MAKERS 

stake.  He  seemed  more  concerned  for  his  captive  converts  than 
for  himself,  and  addressed  them  in  a  loud  voice,  exhorting  them 
to  suffer  patiently,  and  promising  heaven  as  a  reward.  The  Iro- 
quois, incensed,  scorched  him  from  head  to  foot  to  silence  him; 
whereupon,  in  the  tone  of  a  master,  he  threatened  them  with 
everlasting  flames  for  persecuting  the  worshipers  of  God.  As 
he  continued  to  speak,  with  voice  and  countenance  unchanged, 
they  cut  away  his  lower  lip  and  thrust  a  red-hot  iron  down  his 
throat.  He  still  held  his  tall  form  erect  and  defiant,  with  no  sign 
or  sound  of  pain;  and  they  tried  another  means  to  overcome 
him.  They  led  out  Lalemont  (another  missionary)  that  Brebeuf 
might  see  him  tortured.  They  had  tied  strips  of  bark,  smeared 
with  pitch,  about  his  naked  body.  When  he  saw  the  condition 
of  his  superior  he  could  not  hide  his  agitation,  and  called  out  to 
him  with  a  broken  voice,  in  the  words  of  St.  Paul :  "  We  are 
made  a  spectacle  to  the  world,  to  angels,  and  to  men."  Then 
he  threw  himself  at  Brebeuf 's  feet;  upon  which  the  Iroquois 
seized  him,  made  him  fast  to  a  stake,  and  set  fire  to  the  bark 
that  enveloped  him.  As  the  flame  rose,  he  threw  his  arms 
upward  with  a  shriek  of  supplication  to  heaven.  Next  they  hung 
round  Brebeuf 's  neck  a  collar  of  hatchets  heated  red  hot;  but 
the  indomitable  priest  stood  like  a  rock.  A  Huron  in  the  crowd, 
who  had  been  a  convert  of  the  mission  but  was  now  an  Iroquois 
by  adoption,  called  out,  with  the  malice  of  a  renegade,  to  pour 
hot  water  on  their  heads,  since  they  had  poured  so  much  cold 
water  on  those  of  others.  The  kettle  was  accordingly  slung,  and 
the  water  boiled  and  slowly  poured  on  the  heads  of  the  two 
missionaries,  "We  baptize  you,"  they  cried,  "that  you  may  be 
happy  in  heaven,  for  nobody  can  be  saved  without  a  good  bap- 
tism." Brebeuf  would  not  flinch;  and  in  a  rage  they  cut  strips 
of  flesh  from  his  limbs  and  devoured  them  before  his  eyes. 
Other  renegade  Hurons  called  out  to  him,  "You  told  us  that 
the  more  one  suffers  on  earth,  the  happier  he  is  in  heaven. 
We  wish  to  make  you  happy;  we  torment  you  because  we  love 
you,  and  you  ought  to  thank  us  for  it."  After  a  succession  of 
other  revolting  tortures  they  scalped  him;  when,  seeing  him 
nearly  dead,  they  laid  open  his  breast  and  came  in  a  crowd  to 
drink  the  blood  of  so  valiant  an  enemy,  thinking  to  imbibe  with 
it  some  portion  of  his  courage.  A  chief  then  tore  out  his  heart 
and   devoured   it. 

And  there  were  many  Jesuit  missionaries  like  Brebeuf, 


XAVIER  221 

many  like  Xavier,  who  attempted  great  things  only  to 
fail  greatly.    Failed? 

Say  not  so! 
'Tis  not  the  grapes  of  Canaan  that  repay, 
But  the  high  faith  that  failed  not  by  the  way. 

We  must  deplore  their  superstitions,  their  defects  of 
character,  their  mistakes  of  policy,  but  can  we  admire  too 
highly  the  fiery  zeal  of  these  men,  their  splendid  courage, 
their  matchless  fortitude?  We  vaunt  ourselves  as 
greatly  their  superiors  in  spiritual  insight,  in  knowledge 
of  the  pure  word  of  God,  in  evangelical  enlightenment. 
God  make  all  of  us  as  loyal  to  our  truth  as  they  were  to 
their  error. 


XII 


ZIEGENBALG: 
THE  FIRST  PROTESTANT  MISSIONARY 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

An  excellent  account  of  the  attitude  of  Protestants  toward 
missions  prior  to  Ziegenbalg  may  be  found  in  Warneck,  pp.  8-52. 
The  literature  of  Pietism  is  extensive ;  see  Hauck-Herzog,  Real- 
encyclop'ddie,  and  similar  works.  The  writings  of  Spener  and 
Francke  are,  of  course,  the  chief  sources.  Spener's  minor  works, 
ed.  Steinmetz  (Magdeburg,  1746)  ;  Kramer,  Beitrdge  zur  Ge- 
schichte  Franckes  (Halle,  1861),  contains  valuable  correspond- 
ence with  Spener;  supplementary  volumes  published  in  1863, 
1875,  1876.  The  best  histories  of  the  movement  are  by  Ritschl 
(three  vols.,  Bonn,  1880),  Heppe  (Leyden,  1879),  and  Schmidt 
(Nordlingen,  1863).  Standard  biographies  are:  Stahelin,  Spener 
als  Reformator  nach  Reformation  (Basel,  1870)  ;  Hossbach,  Le- 
ben  Speners  (two  vols.,  Berlin,  1861)  ;  Griinberg  (1896)  ;  Wal- 
rond,  Philip  Jacob  Spener  (London,  1893).  A  biography  by 
Wildenhahn  (three  vols.,  Leipzig,  1855)  has  been  translated  into 
English  by  Wenzel  (Philadelphia,  1881).  There  are  two  good 
German  biographies  of  Francke,  by  Guericke  (Halle,  1827),  and 
Kramer  (Halle,  1880).  Our  chief  source  for  the  life  and  labors 
of  Ziegenbalg  is  the  Hallesche  Berichten  aiis  Ost-Indien  (ed. 
A.  G.  Francke),  especially  Vols.  I  and  II.  Also  the  following  in 
English :  Ziegenbalg,  Thirty-four  Conferences  Between  the  Dan- 
ish Missionaries  and  the  Malabaria7i  Brahmans  (London,  1719)  ; 
Ziegenbalg  and  Griindler,  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  the  East 
(London,  1718)  ;  this  last  contains  fifty-eight  letters  of  Ziegen- 
balg. The  best  biography  is  Germann,  Leben  Ziegenbalg  (two 
vols.,  Erlangen,  1867-8)  ;  compare  the  same  author's  Ziegenbalg 
und  Pliitschau  (Erlangen,  1868).  Other  literature  that  will  be 
found  helpful,  both  in  German  and  English:  Walch,  Streitig- 
keiten  Innerhalb  der  Luth.  Kirche,  Vols.  I-IV  (8  Th.  Jena, 
1733-9)  I  Plitt,  Kurze  Geschichte  der  lutheranische  Mission,  pp. 
51-153  (Erlangen,  1861);  Dorner,  History  of  Protestant  Theol- 
ogy, Vol.  II,  p.  204,  seq.;  Hurst,  History  of  Rationalism,  chap,  i- 
iii;  Thompson,  Protestant  Missions,  pp.  148-174;  The  Lutheran 
Cyclopedia,  arts.  "  Pietism,"  "  Ziegenbalg,"  "  India,  Missions  in  " ; 
Sherring,  Plistory  of  Protestant  Missions  in  India  (London, 
1884)  )  Fenger,  Geschichte  der  trankebar.  Mission  (Grimma, 
1845)  ;  Holcomb,  Men  of  Might  in  India  Missions,  pp.  13-38 
(New  York,  1901).  An  excellent  article  by  W.  Fleming  Steven- 
son, on  "  The  Last  Days  of  Ziegenbalg,"  appeared  in  Good  Words 
for  December,  1872. 


XII 
ziegenbalg:  the  first  protestant  missionary 

AMONG  the  problems  that  perplex  the  student  of 
Christian  history,  not  the  least  puzzling  is  the  utter 
indifference  to  foreign  missions  shown  for  nearly  three 
centuries  by  all  the  churches  established  through  the  great 
Protestant  revolution.  If  this  indifference  had  been  mani- 
fested by  any  one  of  the  principal  theological  parties,  by 
any  one  of  the  great  national  churches — if  it  were  confined 
to  the  established  churches,  on  the  one  hand,  or  to  the  her- 
etical and  dissenting  bodies,  on  the  other — the  phenom- 
enon would  still  seem  surprising,  but  perhaps  not  inex- 
plicable. That  foreign  missions  should  not  have  been 
begun  during  the  initial  stages  of  the  Reformation  is,  in- 
deed, not  astonishing.  Down  to  the  peace  of  Westphalia, 
Protestantism  was  at  death-grips  with  its  numerous  foes, 
and  could  not  be  reasonably  expected  to  do  more  than 
fight  strenuously  for  its  very  right  to  live.  But  after,  let 
us  say,  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century,  there  was 
no  reason  for  further  delay  in  beginning  this  work  save 
entire  indifference  to  it.  That  the  ability  to  give  the 
gospel  to  the  heathen  was  from  that  time  onward  pos- 
sessed by  the  Protestant  churches  must  be  conceded  by 
their  most  ardent  apologists;  it  was  the  will  only  that 
lacked. 

A  partial  explanation  of  the  attitude  of  these  churches 
toward  the  work  of  foreign  missions  is  doubtless  afforded 
by  a  study  of  the  teachings  of  the  leading  reformers. 
Luther  taught  that  the  Great  Commission  had  already 
been  fulfilled,  and  the  gospel  had  been  preached  through- 
p  225 


226  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

out  the  whole  world,  in  the  sense  intended  by  the  Scrip- 
tures. The  kingdom  of  God  had  been  established  upon 
this  preaching  and  had  reached  to  all  places  under  heaven. 
The  only  missions  that  he  recognized,  therefore,  were  mis- 
sions having  for  their  object  the  better  instruction  in  the 
truth  of  those  who  already  had  the  gospel.  Thus,  in  com- 
menting on  the  parable  of  the  Good  Shepherd,  and  the 
"  other  sheep,"  he  maintains  that  these  have  already  been 
brought  into  the  fold.  "  Many  say  that  this  has  not  yet 
been  brought  to  pass.  I  say,  nay,  the  saying  has  long  ago 
been  fulfilled.  .  .  What  the  Lord  says  of  '  other  sheep  ' 
that  he  must  also  bring,  so  that  there  shall  be  one  fold 
and  one  shepherd,  began  to  be  immediately  after  Pente- 
cost, when  the  gospel  was  preached  by  the  apostles 
through  all  the  world,  and  will  continue  so  to  be  until 
the  end  of  the  world.  It  is  not  true  that  all  men  shall  turn 
and  accept  the  gospel.  That  will  never  be.  The  devil  will 
never  let  that  come  to  pass.  Therefore  there  will  ever  be 
in  the  world  many  different  faiths  and  religions."  One 
secret  of  Luther's  indifference  to  missions  may  no  doubt 
be  found  in  his  belief,  so  frequently  set  forth  in  his  writ- 
ings, that  the  end  of  the  age  was  at  hand,  and  that  his 
generation  would  not  pass  away  before  the  coming  of  our 
Lord.  The  entire  Lutheran  school  agreed  with  him,  and 
some  went  beyond  their  founder. 

Calvin  was  less  precise  in  maintaining  that  the  Great 
Commission  is  already  fulfilled,  and  that  no  duty  there- 
fore devolved  upon  Christians  of  his  age  to  disseminate 
the  gospel,  but  he  fails  to  utter  any  positive  teaching  in 
favor  of  missions.  It  is  a  fair  inference  from  what  he 
does  say,  that  Christian  magistrates  alone  are  charged 
with  the  duty  of  introducing  the  true  religion  into  any 
land  over  which  they  may  acquire  authority — a  principle 
that  would,  at  most,  lead  to  colonial  missions  only.  Cal- 
vin's successor,  Theodore  Beza,  was  not  content  with  any 


ZIEGENBALG  227 

such  neutral  position  as  this.  When  Adrian  Savaria — a 
Dutch  preacher,  professor  at  the  University  of  Leyden, 
who  emigrated  to  England  and  became  Dean  of  Westmin- 
ster— published  a  treatise  (1590)  in  which  he  advocated 
the  perpetual  obligation  of  the  church  to  preach  the  gos- 
pel to  all  nations,  Beza  published  a  reply,  denying  that 
Christ's  commission  extended  to  churches  of  post-apos- 
tolic times.  A  Lutheran  theologian  also,  John  Gerhard, 
was  disturbed  by  Savaria's  teaching,  and  maintained  anew 
the  Lutheran  position.  So  far  as  the  authority  of  their 
acknowledged  leaders  and  theologians  extended,  there- 
fore, both  Lutherans  and  Reformed  were  committed  to 
the  view  that  the  Great  Commission  had  already  been  ful- 
filled, and  that  Christians  no  longer  have  any  obligation 
toward  the  heathen.  And  though  occasional  voices  of 
protest  were  feebly  raised  against  so  unchristian  a  doc- 
trine, this  remained  the  belief  of  Protestants  everywhere 
for  more  than  a  hundred  years  longer. 

The  beginning  of  Protestant  missions  is  inseparably 
connected  with  the  religious  movement  in  Germany 
known  as  pietism,  essentially  a  protest  and  reaction 
against  the  formalism  and  dead  orthodoxy  into  which 
Lutheranism  had  degenerated  after  the  Thirty  Years' 
War.  Religion  had  come  to  mean  little  more  than  an 
assent  to  creeds  and  attendance  at  church,  and  even  the 
latter  was  often  dispensed  with.  A  revival  of  spiritual 
religion  and  practical  piety  was  greatly  needed.  The  man 
who  was  appointed  by  divine  Providence  for  this  work 
was  Jacob  Spener,  who  became  pastor  at  Frankfurt  in 
1666.  An  eloquent  preacher,  a  man  of  great  spiritual  fer- 
vor, a  wise  and  tactful  leader  and  adviser,  he  made  a  deep 
impression  in  that  city  and  gathered  about  him  a  group 
of  men  and  women  of  kindred  spirit.  One  of  the  new 
methods  of  spiritual  culture  that  he  introduced  was  the 
holding  of  meetings  in  his  house  for  the  study  of  the 


228  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

Scriptures — Bible  classes,  as  we  should  now  call  them. 
It  is  hard  for  us  to  look  upon  such  gatherings  as  a  novelty 
in  any  Christian  community,  or  to  comprehend  the  storm 
of  criticism,  ridicule,  and  opposition  that  they  provoked. 
Other  gatherings  of  this  kind  were  soon  formed  in  other 
cities,  and  they  were  called  collegia  pietatis.  In  this  way 
the  names  pietism  and  pietists  became  fixed  upon  the 
movement,  at  first  given  in  derision  by  opponents,  but 
afterward  accepted  as  a  convenient  designation,  and  one 
sufficiently  descriptive  of  the  movement,  which  had  as 
its  chief  aim  the  promotion  of  practical  piety. 

In  1675  a  formal  exposition  of  the  principles  advocated 
by  those  concerned  in  this  movement  was  given  in 
Spener's  book  entitled  "'  Pia  Desideria."  This  avowal  of 
the  platform  of  pietism  is  so  moderate,  it  would  appear 
so  trite  and  commonplace  in  our  day,  that  one  can  with 
great  difficulty  understand  why  it  should  make  so  great 
a  sensation  on  its  appearance.  The  six  principles  of  th^ 
movement  could  hardly  have  been  more  simple,  and  one 
would  think  could  hardly  provoke  dissent  from  any 
Christian.     They  were: 

1.  The  promotion  of  the  study  of  the  Scriptures  in 
Bible  classes,  a  study  to  be  practical  and  devotional  rather 
than  merely  exegetical. 

2.  The  participation  of  the  laity  in  Christian  work — 
a  new  idea  in  Germany  then,  and  sure  to  be  opposed  as 
such,  but  now  a  commonplace  everywhere. 

3.  Practical  good  works  to  be  encouraged,  since  they 
are  the  fruit  of  the  inner  spiritual  life,  and  the  only  proof 
that  such  life  really  exists. 

4.  The  substitution  of  missionary  effort  for  polemics 
in  the  propagation  of  the  truth. 

5.  The  reorganization  of  theological  study  in  accord- 
ance with  these  principles,  to  secure  spiritual  as  well  as 
mental  training  for  ministers. 


ZIEGENBALG  229 

6.  The  requirement  of  practical  piety  as  well  as  learn- 
ing among  the  clergy,  and  the  encouragement  of  a  more 
practical  and  edifying  kind  of  preaching. 

The  necessity  of  the  new  birth  was  clearly  implied  in 
these  principles,  if  not  formally  stated;  and  it  followed 
that  special  effort  should  be  directed  to  securing  the  con- 
version of  those  who  were  Christians  only  in  the  sense 
that  they  had  been  baptized  and  confirmed  according  to 
the  practice  of  the  Lutheran  Church. 

It  is  not  within  the  scope  of  our  subject  to  pursue  the 
general  history  of  pietism,  interesting  though  such  an 
inquiry  would  be,  but  merely  to  point  out  its  effect  upon 
the  revival  of  missionary  effort.  This  result  came  about 
directly  through  the  founding  of  the  University  of  Halle, 
and  the  labors  of  Dr.  August  Hermann  Francke.  The 
pietists,  finding  themselves  under  suspicion  and  excluded 
from  the  existing  universities,  established  a  new  univer- 
sity at  Halle  in  1691,  and  the  following  year  Francke  was 
called  to  a  professorship,  and  spent  the  remaining  years 
of  his  life  there.  Of  his  influence  as  a  teacher,  of  his 
practical  activities  as  founder  of  the  great  Halle  orphan- 
age, the  first  institution  of  the  kind  and  the  parent  of 
countless  others,  I  have  no  time  to  speak.  As  Warneck 
well  says,  in  his  "  History  of  Protestant  Missions  " : 

It  was  in  the  age  of  pietism  that  missions  struck  their  first 
deep  roots,  and  it  is  the  spirit  of  pietism  which,  after  rational- 
ism had  laid  its  hoar  frost  on  its  first  blossoming,  again  revived 
them,  and  has  brought  them  to  their  present  bloom.  .  .  The 
visions  of  the  religions  condition  of  the  world  beyond  Europe,  to 
which  the  growing  commerce  of  the  world  was  ever  giving 
truer  adjustment,  made  the  assumption  of  a  universally  diffused 
or  previously  diffused  knowledge  of  Christianity  ever  more  un- 
tenable, and  so  corrected  the  old  expositions  of  Scripture  and 
the  old  interpretation  of  history.  But  that  which  brought  about 
the  radical  change  lay  in  the  nature  of  pietism  itself,  which  over 
against  the  dominant  ecclesiastical  doctrine  exhibited  the  worth 


230  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

and  power  of  a  living,  personal,  and  practical  Christianity.  The 
energetic  seeking  of  conversion,  as  well  as  a  general  zeal  for 
fruitfulness  in  good  works,  begat  an  activity  which,  as  soon  as 
it  was  directed  against  the  non-Christian  world,  could  not  but 
assume  the  tendency  to  seek  the  conquest  of  the  world  for 
Christ.  It  is  true,  indeed,  that  much  narrow-mindedness  clung 
to  pietism,  and  that  this  in  many  ways  impaired  the  freshness 
and  the  popularity  of  its  Christianity;  but  notwithstanding  that 
narrowness,  so  soon  as  it  allowed  itself  to  be  impregnated  by 
missionary  ideas  there  came  to  it  a  width  of  horizon  by  which  it 
excelled  all  its  adversaries.  While  derided  as  "  conventicle  Chris- 
tianity," it  embraced  the  whole  world  with  its  loving  thoughts, 
and  these  loving  thoughts  it  translated  into  works  of  love,  which 
sought  to  render  help  alike  to  the  misery  of  the  heathen  and  to 
that  within  Christendom.  In  spite  of  its  "  fleeing  from  the 
world,"  it  became  a  world-conquering  power.  It  is  the  parent, 
as  of  missions  to  the  heathen,  so  also  of  all  those  saving  agencies 
which  have  arisen  within  Christendom  for  the  healing  of  relig- 
ious, moral,  and  social  evils,  and  which  we  are  wont  to  call  home 
missions — a  combination  that  was  already  typically  exemplified 
in  August  Hermann  Francke.  * 

It  was  Francke  who  projected  a  seminarium  iiniversale, 
or  the  founding  of  a  training  school  for  workers  in  all 
parts  of  the  world,  and  who  realized  his  project,  to  a  con- 
siderable extent,  through  his  orphanage  and  the  univer- 
sity at  Halle.  He  was  one  of  those  men  that  have  the 
invaluable  gift  of  arousing  a  spirit  of  absolute  devotion 
to  God's  service  in  the  young  men  with  whom  they  come 
in  contact,  which  makes  them  willing  to  go  wherever 
God's  providence  calls  them.  This  is  the  first  requisite  for 
all  missionary  enterprises.  He  did  not  succeed  in  indu- 
cing the  Lutheran  churches  to  take  official  oversight  of 
missions,  because  of  the  suspicion  in  which  Halle  and 
pietism  were  held,  but  from  his  time  onward  the  work 
of  missions  became  more  and  more  a  recognized  duty  of 
all  genuine  Christians.  It  is  doubtful,  however,  whether 
anything  would  have  been  done  for  a  generation  or  two 

1  p.  53. 


ZIEGENBALG 


231 


more  for  the  actual  giving  of  the  gospel  to  the  heathen, 
but  for  the  colonial  interests  of  Denmark  and  the 
benevolent  impulses  of  a  Christian  king. 

India  became,  during  the  sixteenth  century,  the  object 
of  desire  and  the  goal  of  conquest  to  every  European 
nation.  Denmark,  though  one  of  the  smallest  European 
States,  was  by  no  means  the  least  enterprising.  Being 
less  powerful  than  other  countries,  she  was  less  tempted 
to  unscrupulous  conquest,  and  obtained  her  Indian  pos- 
sessions by  means  both  peaceful  and  honorable.  In  1621 
a  colony  on  the  Coromandel  coast  was  acquired  by  pur- 
chase, and  a  fort  and  trading  station  were  established  at 
Tranquebar  by  the  Danish  East  India  Company.  Tran- 
quebar  is  distant  some  one  hundred  and  forty  miles  south- 
west from  Madras,  and  the  entire  Danish  colony  had  an 
area  of  only  fifteen  square  miles.  Besides  the  city  of 
Tranquebar  itself,  it  included  some  twenty  smaller  towns. 

When  Frederick  IV  came  to  the  throne  of  Denmark, 
in  1699,  he  made  it  his  business  to  foster  the  interests  of 
this  colony,  and  it  was  not  long  before  he  began  to  con- 
sider the  condition  of  his  heathen  subjects  there.  The 
project  of  a  mission  among  them  seems  to  have  originated 
with  the  court  chaplain,  Doctor  Liitken,  who  had  come  to 
Copenhagen  a  short  time  before  from  Berlin.  Doctor  Liit- 
ken had  a  wide  acquaintance  with  the  theologians  of  Ger- 
many, including  Francke  and  others  among  the  pietists, 
to  whom  he  was  more  favorable  than  most  of  the  ortho- 
dox Lutherans  of  his  day,  though  I  cannot  find  that  he 
was  ever  directly  connected  with  the  pietists.  The  king 
lent  a  willing  ear  to  his  project  of  a  mission,  and  prom- 
ised it  his  personal  countenance  and  support.  By  cor- 
respondence with  his  friends  in  Germany,  Doctor  Liitken 
learned  of  two  young  men,  former  students  at  Halle,  who 
seemed  suitable  for  the  proposed  work.  These  men  were 
Bartholomew  Ziegenbalg  and  Henry  Pliitschau. 


22)2  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

Ziegenbalg  was  born  at  Pulsnitz,  near  Dresden,  June 
4,  1683.  He  was  the  son  of  pious  parents,  and  though 
early  left  an  orphan  the  influence  of  his  mother  was  never 
forgotten.  Around  her  dying  bed  were  gathered  the 
weeping  children.  ''  My  dear  children,"  said  she,  "  I  am 
leaving  you  a  great  treasure,  a  very  great  treasure."  The 
eldest  daughter  said  in  surprise,  ''A  treasure,  dear  mother ! 
Where  is  that  treasure?"  "  Seek  it  in  the  Bible,"  said 
the  dying  woman ;  *'  I  have  watered  every  page  with  my 
tears." 

After  his  mother's  death,  he  was  cared  for  by  an  elder 
sister,  and  in  time  was  sent  to  the  gymnasium  at  Gorlitz. 
It  was  through  a  passionate  love  of  music  that  he  was  led 
into  a  knowledge  of  the  higher  verities  of  religion.  An 
older  student  than  himself,  who  shared  his  musical  tastes, 
spoke  to  him  of  the  "  harmonies  of  spiritual  life,  and  of 
the  harmony  between  God  and  man  that  had  been  broken 
by  the  fall  and  restored  by  Christ.  Only  those  who  under- 
stand this  know  what  music  really  is."  The  Bible  now 
became  to  him  the  spiritual  treasure  of  which  his  dying 
mother  had  spoken.  Through  study  of  the  Scriptures 
and  prayer  he  was  led  into  a  new  life.  His  naturally 
serious  disposition  became  yet  more  serious  and  resolved, 
and  after  much  consideration  he  determined  to  give  his 
life  to  the  preaching  of  the  gospel. 

Having  reached  this  conclusion,  he  sought  the  advice  of 
Professor  Francke,  and  by  his  advice  went  to  the  Berlin 
gymnasium,  then  under  the  direction  of  Joachim  Lange, 
a  man  of  piety  and  goodness,  as  well  as  a  thorough 
scholar.  The  death  of  his  sister  and  his  own  ill  health 
interrupted  his  studies,  but  after  some  delay  he  entered 
the  University  of  Halle,  in  1703,  where  he  spent  one  ses- 
sion. The  influence  of  Doctor  Francke  upon  his  char- 
acter was  profound  and  salutary.  Here  also  he  came 
into  fellowship  with  some  kindred  spirits,  and  with  one 


ZIEGENBALG  233 

of  these  students  he  entered  into  the  following  covenant : 
*'  We  will  seek  nothing  else  in  the  world  but  the  glory  of 
God's  name,  the  spread  of  God's  kingdom,  the  propaga- 
tion of  divine  truth,  the  salvation  of  our  neighbor,  the 
constant  sanctification  of  our  own  souls,  wherever  we 
may  be  and  whatever  of  cross-bearing  and  suffering  it 
may  occasion  us."  His  attention  was  directed  by  Doctor 
Francke  to  India  as  a  field  of  labor,  but  no  practical 
means  of  carrying  out  such  a  project  suggested  itself. 

Again  his  studies  were  interrupted  by  ill  health,  and 
he  never  fulfilled  his  intention  of  returning  to  Halle  and 
taking  his  degree.  Instead,  he  became  a  tutor  for  a  time 
at  Merseburg,  and  later  at  Erfurt.  Again  disabled  by 
illness,  on  his  recovery  he  was  asked  to  take  temporary 
charge  of  a  parish  at  Werder,  about  twenty  miles  from 
Berlin.  He  had  never  been  diverted  from  his  idea  of  mis- 
sionary service,  and  it  is  said  that  he  had  been  in  confer- 
ence with  Doctor  Francke  regarding  this  matter  only  a 
little  time  before  the  invitation  from  Copenhagen.  His 
piety,  his  studious  habits,  the  diligence  and  zeal  with 
which  he  had  undertaken  and  prosecuted  his  work  at 
Werder,  and  above  all  his  consciousness  of  a  missionary 
call,  marked  him  out  as  preeminently  fitted  to  undertake 
this  new  enterprise. 

Of  Henry  Plutschau,  his  colleague  in  this  work,  far 
less  is  known  prior  to  his  appointment  as  a  missionary. 
He  was  born  in  1678  in  Mecklenberg-Strelitz,  and  was 
educated  at  Halle,  where  he  had  acquired  the  great  esteem 
of  Doctor  Francke.  He  was  a  man  of  meek  and  quiet 
spirit,  faithful  and  persistent,  an  invaluable  helper,  but 
as  events  proved,  lacking  in  the  self-reliance  and  initiative 
necessary  in  a  leader. 

The  two  young  men  speedily  made  their  way  to  Copen- 
hagen, and  were  there  ordained  to  the  ministry  by  Bishop 
Borneman,  and  sailed  for  India  November  24,  1705,  in 


234  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

the  "  Heclwig  Sophia."  Nobody  but  the  king,  not  even  the 
bishop  who  ordained  them,  took  any  particular  interest  in 
their  mission;  on  the  contrary,  they  were  pronounced 
enthusiasts  and  fools,  and  accused  of  presumption.  On 
taking  leave,  they  said :  "  We  will  go  in  the  name  of  the 
Lord,  and  if  God  will  give  us  but  one  soul  out  of  heathen- 
dom, our  journey  will  not  be  in  vain."  They  arrived  at 
Tranquebar  July  9,  1706,  and  began  their  labors  among  a 
population  of  thirty  thousand. 

From  the  first  the  missionaries  were  looked  upon  with 
suspicion  by  the  natives,  with  indifference  by  the  Euro- 
pean residents  (mostly  Portuguese),  and  with  hostility  by 
the  officials.  The  Danish  East  India  Company,  in  fact, 
took  precisely  the  same  view  of  the  matter  that  was  taken 
toward  the  close  of  the  century  by  the  English  East  India 
Company,  when  Carey  began  his  labors  in  Bengal.  They 
did  not  venture  openly  to  antagonize  the  king  at  first,  in 
what  they  understood  to  be  a  pet  project  of  his,  but 
secret  instructions  were  forwarded  from  Copenhagen  to 
the  governor  at  Tranquebar  to  put  all  possible  obstacles 
in  the  way  of  the  missionaries,  and  on  no  account  to  aid 
their  enterprise.  It  was  the  fortune  of  the  company  to 
have  as  the  head  of  the  colony  a  narrow-minded,  obsti- 
nate man,  with  a  high  sense  of  his  own  dignity — just  the 
sort  of  person  to  execute  its  orders  with  great  zeal  and 
very  little  discretion.  In  spite  of  their  royal  credentials, 
therefore,  the  missionaries  were  received  with  great-rude- 
ness, and  left  to  shift  for  themselves  as  best  they  might. 
Nothing  was  done  to  help  them  land,  and  when  landed 
they  were  left  for  hours  in  the  burning  sun,  until  some 
Europeans  who  had  not  the  fear  of  the  governor  before 
them  took  pity  on  the  sufferers  and  gave  them  temporary 
lodging.  Open  opposition,  real  persecution,  was  not 
deemed  prudent  at  this  time,  or  they  might  have  expe- 
rienced much  worse  usage. 


ZIEGENBALG  235 

Ziegenbalg  and  Pliitschau  soon  found  a  domicile,  and 
began  the  mastery  of  the  Tamil  language,  in  which  work 
they  found  great  difficulties,  as  neither  books  nor  a 
teacher  were  at  first  obtainable.  The  books  they  were 
obliged  to  make  for  themselves  as  they  learned  more  of 
the  language,  but  the  lack  of  a  teacher  was  at  length  over- 
come by  persuading  a  native  school  to  transfer  itself  to 
their  house.  There,  sitting  cross-legged  on  the  floor, 
among  the  native  children,  these  two  missionaries  acquired 
the  rudiments  of  tlie  language,  and  learned  to  write  with 
a  stick  in  the  sand.  The  climate  is  enervating  for  Euro- 
peans, but  in  spite  of  this  they  labored  hard  at  their 
studies  and  made  rapid  progress.  In  a  few  months  Zieg- 
enbalg was  able  to  converse  with  the  people,  and  even 
to  attempt  preaching.  He  accumulated  a  Tamil  library, 
and  in  time  became  a  fine  scholar  in  that  language,  though 
his  linguistic  acquirements  were  never  comparable  to 
those  of  Carey.  "  In  the  three  years  I  have  been  in 
India,"  Ziegenbalg  writes  home  in  1709,  "  I  have  scarcely 
read  a  German  or  a  Latin  book,  but  have  given  up  all  my 
time  to  reading  Malabar  books;  have  talked  diligently 
with  the  heathen,  and  executed  all  my  business  in  their 
tongue,  so  that  now  it  is  as  easy  to  me  as  my  mother 
tongue,  and  in  the  last  two  years  I  have  been  enabled  to 
write  several  books  in  Tamil." 

But  their  labors  were  not  all  literary.  The  building 
of  a  church  was  begun  toward  the  end  of  their  first  year's 
service,  and  the  first  gathering  for  Christian  worship  in 
it  was  held  on  August  14,  1707.  This  was  the  first  Prot- 
estant chapel  built  in  India.  Some  time  before  this  dedi- 
cation spiritual  fruits  of  the  mission  had  begun  to  appear, 
five  converts  having  been  baptized  on  May  12. 

Nor  was  the  work  of  the  missionaries  confined  to  Tran- 
quebar.  Missionary  tours  were  undertaken  through  the 
surrounding  regions,  outside  of  the  Danish  possessions, 


236  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

the  Brahmins  being  invited  to  attend  rehgious  conferences, 
'  which  often  resulted  in  Hvely  debates,  at  which  large  au- 
diences assembled.  The  immediate  results  of  these  tours 
w^ere  not  great,  but  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  they 
opened  the  way  for  subsequent  efforts  that  were  successful 
in  winning  many  converts.  Their  love  for  the  work  grew. 
"  We  cannot  express,"  they  wrote  home,  "  what  a  tender 
love  we  bear  toward  our  new-planted  congregations. 
Nay,  our  love  is  arrived  to  that  degree,  and  our  forward- 
ness to  serve  this  nation  is  come  to  that  pitch,  that  we 
are  resolved  to  live  and  die  with  them." 

After  about  two  years'  study,  Ziegenbalg  felt  that  he 
had  sufficiently  mastered  the  language  to  begin  what  he 
had  from  the  first  counted  as  his  most  important  task,  the 
translation  of  the  Scriptures  into  Tamil.  By  1711  he  had 
completed  the  New  Testament  and  made  good  progress 
on  the  Old.  An  appeal  for  help  brought  him  a  printing- 
press,  and  in  1 714  he  was  able  to  publish  the  New  Testa- 
ment in  Tamil,  which  he  followed  with  a  liturgy,  hymns, 
a  dictionary  that  he  had  compiled,  and  various  other 
works.  The  Old  Testament  translation  was  not  completed 
and  published  until  several  years  after  his  death. 

While  engaged  on  this  work,  in  1708,  the  missionaries 
experienced  their  first  real  persecution.  The  ill-concealed 
hostility  of  the  officials  now  ventured  to  manifest  itself  in 
overt  acts.  Pliitschau  was  the  first  victim,  being  arrested 
and  publicly  dragged  through  the  streets  on  the  charge  of 
rebellion  against  authority — he  of  all  men!  Ziegenbalg 
was  soon  after  arrested  and  kept  in  prison  for  three 
months,  the  first  month  without  communication  with  his 
friends  or  the  use  of  writing  materials.  No  formal  charge 
was  ever  preferred  against  him,  nor  was  he  ever  given  a 
hearing.  The  governor  finally  released  him,  on  learning 
that  public  opinion  in  the  colony,  so  far  from  sustaining 
him  as  he  had  expected,  generally  condemned  his  despotic 


ZIEGENBALG  237 

cruelty.  The  result  of  such  treatment  was  to  make 
friends  for  the  missionaries  among  all  classes.  "  Our 
imprisonment,"  wrote  Ziegenbalg,  "  has  been  as  a  bell 
ringing  far  and  wide  throughout  Europe  to  awaken  many- 
thousand  souls  to  compassionate  us  and  our  young  and 
growing  community." 

Nevertheless,  though  the  final  results  were  by  no  means 
unfortunate  for  the  mission,  a  severe  temporary  check 
was  experienced.  On  his  release  Ziegenbalg  found  his 
converts  scattered,  and  much  of  the  work  to  do  over. 
This  he  was  patiently  doing,  amid  great  difficulties  and 
embarrassments,  of  which  not  the  least  was  lack  of  money, 
when,  in  the  summer  of  1709,  the  mission  received  gener- 
ous financial  aid  and  reenforcements  from  Copenhagen. 
Both  were  joyfully  welcomed.  The  three  new  mission- 
aries were  John  Griindler,  Polycarp  Jordan,  and  John 
Boving.  Grundler  and  Jordan  were  Halle  students,  and 
Griindler  especially  became  an  invaluable  coadjutor  to 
Ziegenbalg,  relieving  him  after  a  time  of  preaching  and 
administration,  that  he  might  give  himself  more  fully 
to  the  work  of  providing  the  people  with  a  Christian  lit- 
erature in  the  vernacular.  It  was  at  this  time  that  the 
printing-press  already  mentioned,  and  a  German  printer, 
reached  the  missionaries,  after  being  captured  on  the 
way  by  pirates.  This  was  the  first  Christian  press  to  be 
set  up  in  India.  A  second  press  was  sent  out  a  year  or 
two  later,  under  circumstances  that  may  be  called  roman- 
tic. A  young  German  of  great  mechanical  genius  pro- 
duced a  font  of  Tamil  type ;  and  in  the  process  of  making 
it  he  became  so  much  interested  in  the  use  to  which  it 
was  to  be  put  that  he  and  a  younger  brother  volunteered 
to  go  to  India  as  missionary  printers.  Of  course  their 
services  were  gladly  accepted,  and  proved  to  be  quite 
invaluable  to  the  mission. 

It  was  Ziegenbalg  who  first  advocated  and  practised  a 


238  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

method  since  tried  by  many  missionaries  with  conspicu- 
ous success  in  our  later  Chinese  stations  of  dressing  Hke 
the  natives  and  Hving  as  nearly  like  them  as  is  possible 
for  a  European.  In  this  way  he  was  able  to  make  quite 
extensive  excursions  into  distant  regions,  and  though 
these  were  devoid  of  any  immediate  fruits,  they  proved 
the  possibility  of  mission  work  outside  of  the  ports  held 
by  European  powers.  Like  all  men  who  have  the  gift  of 
leadership,  Ziegenbalg  was  active,  energetic,  enterprising, 
and  had  the  faults  of  his  qualities — that  is  to  say,  he  was 
sometimes  impulsive  and  even  rash.  On  one  occasion  he 
demolished  an  idol  in  the  presence  of  heathen  worshipers 
— an  act  that  cannot  be  called  judicious  from  any  point 
of  view,  and  that  might  among  a  heathen  population  have 
serious,  not  to  say  fatal,  consequences.  In  these  labors 
Ziegenbalg  met  with  great  opposition  from  the  Roman 
Catholics  of  this  region,  where  missions  have  been  main- 
tained by  that  church  since  the  days  of  Xavier — opposi- 
tion that  some  writers  have  not  hesitated  to  call  "  malig- 
nant," and  that  drew  from  Ziegenbalg  himself  words  not 
less  violent :  ''  May  the  Lord  of  hosts,  whose  work  we 
design  to  promote,  perfect  us  and  gather  us  unto  himself 
at  last  a  church  and  peculiar  people  from  among  this  wild 
multitude  of  heathen!  And  then  let  the  devil  and  his 
infernal  herd  rage  against  it  to  the  utmost;  we  know 
.there  is  an  overruling  Power  confining  him  to  such 
boundaries  as  he  will  not  be  able  to  pass." 

Little  has  been  said  of  the  work  of  Henry  Pliitschau, 
but  while  details  are  not  easy  to  procure,  it  is  known  that 
he  was  a  faithful  and  laborious  assistant  during  these 
early  years  of  hard  work  and  great  discouragement.  He 
was  especially  useful  in  the  schools  established  in  connec- 
tion with  the  mission,  and  gave  valuable  assistance  in  the 
work  of  translation  also,  as  his  knowledge  of  Tamil  was 
wide  and  accurate.     Both  he  and  Ziegenbalg  were  sent 


ZIEGENBALG  239 

out  in  the  first  instance  for  a  period  of  five  years.  The 
time  of  his  engagement  having  expired,  and  the  climate 
having  made  serious  inroads  upon  his  health,  Pliitschau 
returned  home  in  171 1.  For  some  reason  not  definitely 
recorded,  he  never  returned  to  India,  but  not  long  after 
his  arrival  in  Europe  became  pastor  at  Beidenfleth,  in 
Holstein,  where  he  lived  and  labored  for  over  thirty 
years,  dying  in  1747. 

Besides  the  difficulties  that  the  mission  had  to  encoun- 
ter on  the  field — numerous  enough  and  great  enough  to 
daunt  many  a  man — there  had  been  a  continuous  fire  in 
the  rear.  Those  who  at  first  looked  coldly  on  the  project 
and  suspected  the  missionaries  of  presumption  and  enthu- 
siasm, soon  became  hostile  critics  or  active  opponents. 
Though  the  mission  was  nominally  the  plan  of  the  king 
and  never  lacked  royal  countenance  and  support,  it  soon 
became  evident  that  the  real  direction  of  the  enterprise 
was  from  Halle,  whence  indeed  had  plainly  come  its  in- 
spiration. This  caused  the  work  to  be  suspected  as  the 
child  of  pietism,  and  the  orthodox  Lutherans  who  were 
opposing  pietism  as  contra-confessional,  heretical,  and 
practically  mischievous,  naturally  included  the  mission  in 
their  denunciations.  Ziegenbalg  was  described  in  a  theo- 
logical pamphlet  of  the  time  as  "  an  impious  idiot,"  and 
even  the  faculty  of  the  University  of  Wittenberg  stigma- 
tized the  m.issionaries  as  "  false  prophets." 
*  It  became  necessary,  therefore,  or  at  least  highly  desir- 
able, that  the  real  facts  about  the  mission  should  be  made 
more  widely  known,  and  the  circle  of  its  supporters  and 
well-wishers  as  much  enlarged  as  possible.  The  health 
of  Ziegenbalg  was  failing  also,  in  consequence  of  the 
severity  of  the  climate  and  the  intensity  of  his  labors,  and 
accordingly  he  decided,  in  171 5,  to  return  to  Europe.  He 
was  graciously  received  by  the  king,  and  informed  that 
his  commission  as  superintendent  of  the  mission  had  been 


240  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

forwarded  to  India.  By  the  personal  intervention  of  the 
king,  the  difficulties  with  the  East  India  Company  were 
removed.  The  churches  of  Germany  were  visited  during 
the  next  year,  and  Ziegenbalg  was  received  in  most  places 
with  great  honor,  his  eloquence  winning  a  favorable  hear- 
ing from  many  who  had  thus  far  been  indifferent  or  op- 
posed to  his  work.  He  also  visited  England,  where 
George  I  gave  him  an  audience  and  had  him  preach  in^ 
the  royal  chapel.  Here  he  made  many  friends,  and  re- 
ceived considerable  contributions  for  his  work.  The 
highest  dignitary  in  England,  who  takes  precedence  of 
everybody  in  the  realm  after  the  royal  family,  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  wrote  to  Ziegenbalg :  ''  I  consider 
your  lot  is  far  higher  than  all  church  dignities.  Let 
others  be  prelates,  patriarchs  and  popes;  let  them  be 
adorned  with  purple  and  scarlet ;  let  them  desire  bowings 
and  genuflections — you  have  won  a  greater  honor  than 
all  these." 

This  tour  marks  a  permanent  increase  of  zeal  for  for- 
eign missions  among  Protestants,  though  the  number  of 
those  awakened  to  their  duty  was  yet  small,  and  there 
was  little  concerted  action  among  the  few.  The  news  of 
Ziegenbalg's  work  spread  as  far  as  the  American  colo- 
nies, and  he  came  into  correspondence  with  Cotton 
Mather,  the  great  Puritan  divine  of  the  Massachusetts 
colony,  who  wrote  to  the  missionary  in  these  glowing 
words:  ''A  work  how  illustrious!  how  celestial!  how 
sublime!  O  thrice  and  four  times  happy  they  who  are 
ministers  of  God  in  such  a  work!  Happy  though  never 
so  much  harassed  with  labors  and  watchings  and  per- 
petual troubles !  Happy  beyond  all  expression,  did  they 
but  know  their  own  happiness !  "  Nor  did  Mather  and 
his  fellows  confine  themselves  to  words  of  praise;  a  con- 
tribution was  sent  to  this  Indian  mission,  and  prayers 
were  offered  in  many  colonial  churches  for  its  success. 


ZIEGENBALG  24I 

Another  happy  incident  of  this  tour  was  Ziegenbalg's 
marriage.  It  will  be  remembered  that  after  his  studies  at 
Halle  he  was  for  a  time  a  private  tutor  at  Merseburg. 
Among  his  pupils  was  a  girl  named  Dorothea  Saltzmann. 
She  had  now  grown  to  womanhood,  and  was  distin- 
guished by  ardent  piety,  strength  of  character,  and  culti- 
vated intelligence.  She  proved  in  every  respect  a  fitting 
helper  of  Ziegenbalg  in  his  labors. 

In  17 17  Ziegenbalg  returned  to  his  work  in  India,  with 
health  much  improved,  with  a  greatly  enlarged  circle  of 
supporters,  and  hoping  for  many  years  more  of  labor, 
which  his  ever-enlarging  knowledge  and  experience  would 
render  increasingly  fruitful.  He  was  a  tireless  worker, 
and  during  his  absence  from  the  country  he  had  been 
laboring  on  a  Tamil  grammar,  which  long  remained  the 
accepted  text-book  for  those  learning  the  language.  Be- 
sides he  had  continued  his  work  of  translation,  and  com- 
pleted his  version  of  the  book  of  Joshua.  This  continued 
to  be  a  large  part  of  his  labors  after  his  return.  But  his 
zeal  and  the  enervating  climate  were  too  much  for  his  frail 
body.  He  began  to  fail  almost  immediately,  though  for  a 
time  his  joy  at  the  progress  of  the  work  seemed  enough 
to  sustain  him.  The  governor  who  had  opposed  and  per- 
secuted him  at  the  beginning  of  his  work  had  been  re- 
called, and  the  new  appointee  was  a  friend  of  the  mission. 
Many  other  obstacles  had  disappeared,  and  everything 
now  favored  the  progress  of  the  gospel.  Thirty  mem- 
bers were  added  by  baptism  to  the  little  community  the 
first  year  after  his  return,  and  fifty  the  second.  More- 
over, a  much  larger  and  finer  church  had  been  built  and 
dedicated,  the  corner-stone  being  laid  by  the  governor 
himself.  This  is  still  the  mission  church  at  Tranquebar, 
but  the  first  chapel  long  ago  disappeared. 

These  last  two  years  were,  however,  made  sorrowful 
by  misunderstandings  between  the  missionary  and  his 
Q 


242  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

supporters  at  home.  A  sort  of  Mission  Board  had  been 
organized,  the  precursor  of  the  Danish  Mission  Society, 
which  was  founded  after  Ziegenbalg's  death  (1721),  and 
the  secretary  of  this  board  proved  himself  to  be  a  man 
incapable  of  understanding  the  missionaries,  as  well  as 
totally  ignorant  of  the  field  and  its  requirements.  Like 
all  narrow-minded  men,  he  was  opinionated  and  obstinate, 
and  the  correspondence  between  the  missionaries  and  the 
Board  was  a  succession  of  complaints  and  censures  by  the 
secretary,  and  of  apologetic  replies  by  the  workers.  Of 
these  letters  written  by  Ziegenbalg  and  Griindler,  two  are 
most  elaborate  discussions  of  missionary  policy,  and  are 
reckoned  among  the  most  valuable  contributions  of  their 
kind  in  missionary  literature. 

During  the  last  months  of  his  life,  Ziegenbalg  was  able 
to  accomplish  little,  and  on  the  twenty-third  of  February, 
1719,  he  ceased  from  his  labors.  Just  before  his  death  he 
asked  to  have  sung  that  hymn  which  has  comforted  the 
hearts  of  generations  of  Christians,  ""  Jcsu,  meine  Zuver- 
sichtr 

Jesus,  my  Redeemer,  lives, 

Christ,  my  trust,  is  dead  no  more! 
In  the  strength  this  knowledge  gives, 

Shall  not  all  my  fears  be  o'er; 
Calm,  though  death's  long  night  be  fraught 
Still  with  many  an  anxious  thought. 

Ziegenbalg  was  but  thirty-six  years  old  at  his  death,  but 
he  had  accomplished  more  than  most  who  live  out  their 
threescore-and-ten  years.  He  is  described  in  his  later 
years  as  a  man  of  commanding  presence,  of  great  dignity, 
with  a  flashing  eye,  resolute  and  calm  in  demeanor,  hav- 
ing a  bronzed  face  seamed  with  deep  lines  of  care.  He 
was  admirably  fitted  by  nature  and  by  grace,  by  the  fash- 
ioning of  divine  Providence  and  by  his  own  choice,  for 
his  work  as  a  pioneer  missionary.    That  no  English  biog- 


ZIEGENBALG  243 

raphy  of  him  exists  is  an  inexplicable  defect  in  our  mis- 
sionary literature  that  ought  to  be  speedily  remedied. 
For  a  recent  Lutheran  writer  does  not  seem  to  exaggerate 
when  he  sums  up  Ziegenbalg's  life  and  work  in  a  single 
sentence :  "  It  was  the  zeal  and  activity  of  this  one  man 
that  paved  the  way  for  the  great  work  of  Protestant  mis- 
sions to  the  heathen." 

A  word  should  be  added  concerning  the  mission  that 
Ziegenbalg  founded  at  Tranquebar.  Griindler,  to  whom 
he  resigned  his  office  as  superintendent,  survived  his 
friend  and  leader  but  a  few  months,  but  the  timely  ar- 
rival of  three  new  missionaries  saved  the  work  from  dis- 
aster, and  it  has  been  continued,  with  varying  fortunes, 
until  the  present  time.  The  Tranquebar  colony  was  ceded 
to  England  in  1846,  but  some  years  before  the  cession 
the  nearly  extinct  mission  was  revived  by  the  Evangelical 
Lutheran  Society  of  Dresden,  and  it  has  since  remained 
in  a  comparatively  flourishing  state.  Certain  Swedish 
societies  co-operate  with  several  in  Germany  in  this  Indian 
mission,  which  at  last  accounts  reported  over  ten  thou- 
sand native  Christians  and  a  working  force  of  over  a 
hundred  missionaries. 

It  has  been  the  too  common  practice  of  Baptist  writers 
to  date  all  modern  missions,  and  especially  those  in  India, 
from  the  labors  of  William  Carey.  To  such  may  be  com- 
mended this  summary  by  an  impartial  historian  of  mis- 
sions ^  of  what  had  been  accomplished  by  the  Tranquebar 
mission  before  the  arrival  of  Carey: 

Altogether  not  less  than  fifty  thousand  natives  of  India  had 
abandoned  heathenism  and  embraced  Christianity  within  this 
period  (before  1789).  Most  of  them  had  died;  but  what  propor- 
tion were  still  living  at  the  end  of  the  century  is  difficult  to  as- 
certain. That  many  of  the  converts  were  sincere  and  genuine 
cannot  be  doubted.    Yet  it  is  certain  that  the  permission  to  retain 

^  Sherring,   p,    50. 


244  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

the  caste  customs  and  prejudices  throws  considerable  suspicion 
on  the  spiritual  work  accomplished  among  them. 

Later  missionaries  of  all  religious  bodies  have  avoided 
this  error  of  the  Tranquebar  workers  at  the  outset  of  their 
mission,  believing  that  the  spirit  of  caste  and  the  spirit 
of  Christ  are  utterly  incompatible — though  it  is  not  for 
the  Christians  of  Europe  and  America  to  throw  any 
stones  at  Indian  converts,  until  they  have  freed  them- 
selves from  social  distinctions  and  political  policies  that 
rest  on  nothing  but  dislike  of  men  of  race,  color,  and 
training  differing  from  their  own.  Is  it  not  true  that  we 
demand  of  our  missionaries  that  they  impose  on  their 
heathen  converts  a  moral  standard  to  which  our  own 
churches  would  refuse  to  conform?  And  if  this  is  true, 
is  it  not  to  us  that  our  Lord  says,  "  Thou  hypocrite,  first 
cast  the  beam  out  of  thine  own  eye,  and  then  shalt  thou 
see  clearly  to  cast  the  mote  out  of  thy  brother's  eye  "  ? 


XIII 

SCHWARTZ:    THE   EDUCATIONAL 
IDEA   IN    MISSIONS 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

The  chief  source  for  a  life  of  Schwartz  is  his  Remains,  with 
a  sketch  of  his  career  (London,  1826).  The  authoritative  biog- 
raphy is  by  Germann,  Missionary  C.  F.  Schwartz  (Erlangen,  1870). 
In  EngHsh  there  are  two  helpful  books:  Pearson,  Memoirs  of 
Life  and  Correspondence  of  Schwartz  (London,  1834),  and  a 
biography  by  the  same  writer  (London,  1855).  See  also  Plitt, 
Kurze  Geschichte  der  Luth.  Mission,  pp.  47-207.  The  greatest 
recent  exemplar  of  the  educational  idea  in  missions  is  Alexander 
Duff;  see  his  India  and  Indian  Missions  (London,  1839),  and  his 
biography  by  George  Smith  (New  York,  1881).  Neale,  Christian 
Education  in  India  (London,  1846),  should  be  consulted,  and 
Sherring,  pp.  19-48.  Hough,  History  of  Christianity  in  India 
(4  vols.  London,  1839),  contains  much  that  will  be  of  service  in 
the  study  of  all  early  missions  in  India.  Briefer,  but  excellent,  is 
Thompson,  Protestant  Missions,  esp.  lectures  vii-ix  (New  York, 
1894).  No  recent  monographs  have  appeared  on  the  relation  of 
education  to  missions,  but  there  is  a  mass  of  material  scattered 
through  the  various  missionary  magazines,  and  the  reports  of 
the  frequent  missionary  conferences,  especially  the  Toronto  Con- 
vention of  Student  Volunteers  (1902)  and  the  London  Mission- 
ary Conference.  Dennis,  Christian  Missions  and  Social  Progress, 
gives  detailed  accounts  and  statistics  of  educational  institutions 
In  all  mission  lands.  . 


XIII 

SCHWARTZ  :  THE  EDUCATIONAL  IDEA  IN  MISSIONS 

THROUGH  the  labors  of  Bartholomew  Zlegenbalg, 
the  Protestant  churches  of  Europe  had  been  some- 
what awakened  to  their  duty  to  give  the  gospel  to  the 
heathen.  Their  complacent  conviction  that  the  Great 
Commission  had  been  fulfilled  by  the  apostles,  and  that  it 
imposes  no  duty  on  these  later  ages,  had  received  a  severe 
shock.  There  was,  during  the  eighteenth  century,  a  vast 
indifference  to  foreign  missions  to  be  overcome,  but  no 
dogmatic  denial,  based  on  an  exegesis  of  Scripture,  that 
missions  are  an  integral  part  of  Christian  progress. 

Danish  missionary  activity  was  not  long  confined  to 
Tranquebar.  Hans  Egede,  a  Norwegian  by  birth  (1686), 
educated  for  the  ministry  at  Copenhagen,  and  a  pastor 
in  his  native  country  at  the  beginning  of  Ziegenbalg's 
work,  became  greatly  interested  in  the  condition  of  his 
countrymen  in  Greenland,  who  he  feared  might  have 
relapsed  into  heathenism.  Egede  entered  into  correspond- 
ence with  influential  men  of  his  church,  two  bishops  espe- 
cially, and  received  sympathy  and  encouragement.  His 
family,  however,  did  their  best  to  divert  him  from  his 
purpose,  and  for  a  time  were  successful.  When  at  last 
the  missionary  call  became  too  strong  to  be  longer  re- 
sisted, there  were  other  obstacles  to  be  overcome,  and  ten 
years  were  consumed  before  he  was  able  to  realize  his 
project.  On  May  12,  1721,  with  the  aid  of  King  Fred- 
erick IV  of  Denmark,  he  led  a  colony  of  about  forty  to 
Greenland,  but  found  there  no  descendants  of  the  North- 
men, as  he  had  expected.     A  trading  station  was  estab- 

247 


248  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

lished  and  a  mission  to  the  Eskimos.  The  fact  that  the 
enterprise  was  of  this  double  character  Hmited  its  useful- 
ness. In  fact,  Egede  returned  to  die  in  his  native  land, 
after  fifteen  years  of  labor,  with  the  conviction  that  he 
had  accomplished  little  or  nothing.  He  had,  however,  at 
least  given  to  the  world  one  more  example  of  heroic  en- 
deavor, and  opened  the  way  for  other  missionaries  whose 
labors  were  to  be  more  fruitful,  as  well  as  furnished  a 
valuable  object-lesson  on  missionary  methods.  The  mis- 
sionary, least  of  all  men,  is  able  to  serve  God  and  Mam- 
mon. He  cannot  save  souls  and  make  money  at  one  time. 
H  he  preaches  the  gospel  faithfully,  he  has  no  time  or 
strength  or  power  of  brain  to  make  him  a  successful 
trader.  No  subsequent  mission  has  been  wrecked  on  the 
rock  that  proved  the  undoing  of  Hans  Egede. 

The  missionary  enterprise  at  the  beginning  we  have 
seen  to  occupy  this  anomalous  position:  there  were  mis- 
sionaries, but  no  missionary  societies.  Missionaries  were 
at  first  supported  by  the  gifts  of  whoever  happened  to  be 
interested  in  the  work,  and  for  a  time  royal  bounty  was 
the  chief  reliance.  And  when  a  missionary  society  was 
at  length  formed,  it  was  little  more  than  a  local  body.  It 
was  long  before  there  was  anything  worthy  to  be  called 
a  missionary  policy,  and  the  first  missionaries  were  to  a 
great  extent  independent  of  those  who  sent  them  forth, 
and  of  each  other.  It  was  a  species  of  guerilla  warfare 
against  heathenism  that  was  maintained  by  the  Christian 
missionaries  in  Southern  India,  and  when  a  man  appeared 
who  was  competent  to  lead,  those  who  should  have  been 
his  followers  were  undisciplined  and  mutinous,  and  little 
progress  was  made  toward  the  establishment  of  order  and 
system.  That  anything  at  all  was  accomplished  was  due 
to  the  genius  of  the  man  who  must  be  pronounced  the 
greatest  of  Christian  missionaries  before  Carey,  Christian 
Friederich  Schwartz. 


SCHWARTZ  249 

He  was  born  at  Sonnenberg,  fifty  miles  from  Berlin, 
October  26,  1726.  His  pious  mother  died  during  his 
infancy,  but  she  had  dedicated  her  son  to  God,  and  ob- 
tained from  her  husband  the  promise  that  he  should  be 
educated  accordingly.  He  entered  the  gymnasium  at 
Kiistrin  in  1740,  and  while  here  the  reading  of  one  of 
Doctor  Francke's  books  made  a  lasting  impression  upon 
him,  and  by  the  grace  of  God  became  the  turning-point  in 
his  life.  At  the  age  of  twenty  he  entered  the  university 
at  Halle,  where  he  spent  three  years  in  study.  Before 
going  to  Halle,  he  seems  to  have  determined  upon 
the  ministry  as  his  calling,  and  the  influence  of  Francke 
turned  his  attention  to  foreign  missions.  He  asked  his 
father's  permission  to  offer  himself  as  a  missionary, 
hardly  expecting  his  consent,  but  the  promise  made  to  the 
dying  mother  was  remembered  and  respected,  and  his 
father  bade  him  go.  During  his  studies  at  Halle,  he  took 
lessons  in  Tamil  from  a  returned  missionary,  and  as- 
sisted in  reading  the  proofs  of  a  new  edition  of  the  Tamil 
Scriptures,  so  that  he  was  able  to  begin  his  work  with  a 
partial  equipment  for  it.  Within  a  few  days  of  his  de- 
parture he  received  an  offer  of  a  good  position  in  the 
ministry  in  his  native  land,  but  this  had  no  power  to  deter 
him;  he  does  not  seem  to  have  even  felt  it  as  a  tempta- 
tion to  remain,  so  firm  was  his  decision  to  do  the  work  of 
an  evangelist  among  the  heathen. 

In  company  with  two  others,  he  went  to  Copenhagen 
and  was  there  ordained,  September  6,  1749,  and  in  the  fol- 
lowing March  sailed  for  India.  They  went  by  way  of 
England,  where  a  few  months  were  spent  in  gaining  some 
acquaintance  with  the  English  language.  The  Society 
for  the  Prom.otion  of  Christian  Knowledge  showed  them 
great  kindness,  and  from  this  time  forward  took  special 
interest  in  their  work.  They  arrived  at  Tranquebar  in 
July  of  the  following  year,  in  the  midst  of  the  protracted 


250  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

struggle  for  the  possession  of  India  between  the  French 
and  the  EngHsh,  which  was  decided  by  the  genius  of  Qive 
and  the  battle  of  Plassey,  June,  1757.  The  Tranquebar 
mission  was  not  seriously  affected  by  this  conflict,  the 
main  arena  of  which  was  to  the  north  of  their  field,  and 
its  work  was  carried  steadily  on. 

In  the  interval  between  the  death  of  Ziegenbalg  and  the 
arrival  of  Schwartz  considerable  progress  had  been  made. 
Missions  had  been  established  as  far  north  as  Madras, 
and  toward  the  interior  of  the  kingdom  of  Tan j  ore. 
There  were  altogether  some  ten  European  missionaries 
now  employed,  and  about  thirty  native  helpers ;  and  per- 
haps five  thousand  converts  were  now  connected  with 
the  mission — nine  thousand,  it  is  said,  had  been  baptized 
up  to  this  time,  but  many  were  dead  or  had  fallen  away. 
A  good  deal  of  doubt  exists  as  to  the  real  Christian  char- 
acter of  these  converts.  The  recognition  of  caste  by  the 
missionaries,  referred  to  in  the  previous  chapter,  is  one 
ground  of  suspicion.  Another  is  the  fact  that  the  mis- 
sionaries adopted  the  policy  of  giving  financial  assistance 
to  converts,  who  became  contemptuously  known  as  "  shil- 
ling Christians,"  and  that  the  epithet  was  not  altogether 
unjust  was  shown  by  the  fact  that  conversions  were  ob- 
served to  cease  and  many  converts  to  fall  away  whenever 
assistance  was  withheld.  Other  missionaries  have  had 
similar  experience  with  "  rice  Christians,"  whose  name 
designates  their  character.  Such  there  have  been  in  all 
ages  and  among  all  peoples,  since  the  day  when  Christ 
said  to  the  multitudes  that  followed  him :  "  Ye  seek  me 
not  because  ye  saw  signs,  but  because  ye  ate  of  the  loaves 
and  were  filled."  But  not  all  the  converts  were  of  this 
class:  some  brought  forth  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit  and 
endured  hardship  and  persecution  for  Christ's  sake. 
Many  have  been  called  "  rice  Christians  "  and  "  shilling 
Christians  "  in  whom  the  grace  of  God  dwelt  richly. 


SCHWARTZ  251 

Indeed,  it  was  not  then  found,  nor  is  it  now  true,  that 
the  character  of  the  heathen,  converted  or  unconverted,  is 
the  worst  obstacle  that  the  missionary  has  to  encounter. 
Often  his  chief  difficulty  grows  out  of  the  presence  and 
character  of  Europeans,  residents  or  visitors,  whose 
shameful  conduct  not  infrequently  falls  below  even 
heathen  standards  of  morality.  Schwartz  one  day  said 
to  a  Hindu  dancing-master  and  his  pupil  that  heaven  is 
barred  against  all  unholy  persons.  *'  Alas  !  sir,"  was  the 
quick  and  unanswerable  retort  of  the  girl,  "  in  that  case 
how  few  Europeans  will  be  found  there." 

Schwartz's  facility  in  acquiring  languages  was  great, 
for  in  four  months  after  his  arrival  he  preached  his  first 
sermon  in  Tamil — an  astonishing  feat,  even  when  his  les- 
sons at  Halle  are  taken  into  account.  He  afterward 
learned  to  speak  Indo-Portuguese,  Persian,  and  Mah- 
ratta,  as  well  as  the  indispensable  Hindustani,  the  common 
medium  of  communication,  the  French  of  Southern  India. 
His  mastery  not  only  of  the  languages  of  the  people,  but 
their  religions,  habits,  and  social  condition,  was  singularly 
complete,  as  his  subsequent  career  showed,  but  he  stands 
alone  among  the  great  missionaries  in  the  small  literary 
use  that  he  made  of  his  learning.  This  is  the  more  re- 
markable in  a  German,  a  race  of  men  who  write  books  as 
naturally  as  other  men  breathe  and  sleep.  That  a  normal 
German  will  be  studious  if  he  has  the  opportunity,  that 
as  a  result  he  will  become  learned,  is  almost  as  certain  as 
the  axioms  of  mathematics.  And  that  having  become 
learned,  he  will  share  his  knowledge  with  others  through 
periodicals  and  books  is  also  nearly  certain.  Schwartz 
was  studious,  he  became  learned,  but  the  natural  impulse 
of  his  kind  to  write  and  publish  was  in  him  overborne 
by  the  conviction  of  his  paramount  duty  to  be  a  mis- 
sionary. Others  who  preceded  him  had  done  the  indis- 
pensable literary  work  and  produced  a  Christian  litera- 


252  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

ture,  and  though  much  useful  labor  of  the  kind  still  re- 
mained to  be  done,  its  necessity  was  not  so  pressing  that 
Schwartz  felt  called  to  do  it.  He  was  first  of  all  preacher 
and  teacher. 

During  the  first  ten  years  of  missionary  work  he  does 
not  emerge  into  a  prominence  above  his  fellows.  He  was 
of  a  less  ardent  and  impetuous  nature  than  Ziegenbalg, 
and  developed  slowly  into  the  great  missionary  that  he 
became.  It  was  perhaps  his  change  of  relations  that  pro- 
moted his  work  most  rapidly,  by  furnishing  him  a  field 
proportioned  to  his  remarkable  abilities.  In  the  little 
Danish-Halle  mission  he  would  necessarily  have  been  cir- 
cumscribed in  opportunities,  but  Providence  made  him  a 
laborer  under  other  auspices.  In  1767,  in  the  course  of 
one  of  his  missionary  tours,  he  visited  Trichinopoli,  a 
town  of  from  twenty  to  thirty  thousand  inhabitants,  forty 
miles  from  Tanjore,  the  capital  of  Southern  India.  He 
found  there  a  mission  that  the  Society  for  the  Promotion 
of  Christian  Knowledge  had  founded  not  long  before.  It 
was  his  intention  to  make  but  a  brief  visit,  but  he  was 
persuaded  to  transfer  his  services  to  the  English  society, 
and  he  continued  to  be  its  missionary  through  the  remain- 
ing years  of  a  long  life. 

The  advantage  of  Schwartz  was  that  this  change 
brought  him  into  the  theater  of  one  of  the  great  contests 
about  to  be  waged  for  the  dominion  of  India,  and  at  the 
same  time  insured  him  friendly  relations  with  the  power 
destined  to  prevail.  He  was  already  widely  known  and 
respected,  alike  among  the  English  and  the  natives. 
About  forty  years  old,  he  was  in  the  prime  of  his  powers. 
An  accomplished  English  scholar  and  gentleman,  who 
first  saw  him  at  this  time,  thus  writes :  "  I  had  expected 
to  find  this  famous  missionary  a  very  austere  and  strict 
person,  whereas  the  first  sight  of  the  man  made  a  com- 
plete revolution  on  this  point.     His  garb,  indeed,  which 


SCHWARTZ  253 

was  pretty  well  worn,  seemed  foreign  and  old-fashioned, 
but  in  every  other  respect  his  appearance  was  the  reverse 
of  all  that  could  be  called  forbidding  or  morose.  Figure 
to  yourself  a  stout,  well-made  man,  somewhat  above  the 
middle  size,  erect  in  his  carriage  and  address,  with  a  com- 
plexion rather  dark,  though  healthy,  black  curled  hair, 
and  a  manly,  engaging  countenance,  expressive  of  unaf- 
fected candor,  ingenuousness,  and  benevolence,  and  you 
will  have  an  idea  of  what  Mr.  Schwartz  appeared  to  be  at 
first  sight." 

His  salary  from  home  at  this  time  was  forty-eight 
pounds,  which  amply  sufficed  for  his  wants,  and  an  addi- 
tional one  hundred  pounds  given  him  by  the  Madras  gov- 
ernment he  spent  wholly  on  his  mission.  In  1776  he 
founded  a  mission  at  Tan j ore,  and  established  schools  in 
both  cities,  in  which  great  attention  was  paid  to  the  cate- 
chising of  children,  whose  parents,  though  heathen,  gave 
them  permission  to  attend  these  schools  for  their  educa- 
tion. Eight  of  the  most  promising  converts  were  em- 
ployed by  him  in  1772  to  assist  in  the  work,  one  of  whom 
afterward  became  the  first  ordained  native  preacher.  In 
twelve  years  he  had  baptized  one  thousand  two  hundred 
and  thirty-eight  in  Trichinopoli,  and  was  equally  success- 
ful at  Tanjore,  where  he  founded  two  churches. 

At  the  request  of  the  English  governor  of  Madras, 
Schwartz  undertook  a  diplomatic  mission  to  Hyder  Ali, 
the  nawab  of  Mysore,  whose  court  was  then  held  at  Ser- 
ingapatam.  The  nawab  refused  to  have  anything  to  do 
with  ordinary  negotiators.  "  Send  me  the  Christian,"  he 
said,  meaning  Schwartz,  "  he  will  not  deceive  me."  The 
missionary  was  received  with  every  honor,  but  did  not 
altogether  succeed  in  his  errand,  as  he  could  not  convince 
this  Oriental  despot  of  the  honest  Intentions  of  the  Eng- 
lish authorities.  When  the  great  war  in  the  Carnatic 
finally  broke  out,  Schwartz  was  able  to  be  of  great  serv- 


254  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

ice.  The  nawab  issued  orders  to  all  his  officers,  "  Let 
the  venerable  padre  go  about  everywhere  without  hin- 
drance, since  he  is  a  holy  man  and  will  not  injure  me." 
By  the  intercession  of  Schwartz,  Cuddalore  was  saved 
from  destruction,  and  through  his  influence  with  the  na- 
tives Tanjore  was  saved  from  starvation.  The  people 
would  not  trust  native  officials  of  any  rank,  but  as  soon 
as  it  was  understood  that  Schwartz  would  be  responsible 
for  their  pay,  a  thousand  bullocks  were  hauling  grain  into 
the  famine-stricken  city  within  two  days. 

In  1786,  the  rajah  of  Tanjore  sent  for  Schwartz  and 
proposed  that  as  guardian  he  take  entire  charge  of  the 
heir  to  the  throne,  Serfogee.  No  higher  proof  of  the 
complete  confidence  reposed  in  his  character  could  pos- 
sibly have  been  given.  Schwartz  declined  the  complete 
charge  of  the  young  prince  as  too  great  a  responsibility, 
but  consented  to  be  his  guardian  in  a  limited  sense  and  to 
supervise  his  education.  The  prince  became  much  attached 
to  his  guardian  and  teacher,  and  when  he  came  to  the 
throne  did  not  forget  the  obligations  that  he 'had  acknowl- 
edged as  prince.  A  simple  missionary  does  not  often  be- 
come the  guardian  of  princes  or  the  intermediary  between 
two  great  powers;  indeed,  it  is  probable  that  Schwartz's 
position  was  unique  in  missionary  annals.  The  secret  of 
his  exceptional  position  was  that  he  happened  to  be  the 
,one  man  in  Southern  India  at  that  time  in  whose  integrity 
everybody  had  perfect  confidence.  It  is  not  surprising, 
perhaps,  that  the  English  government  should  have  been 
willing  to  trust  him,  but  we  may  well  be  surprised  at  the 
estimate  of  his  character  shown  by  Hyder  Ali  and  the 
native  people  of  all  grades. 

It  was  his  complete  and  proved  disinterestedness,  in 
large  part,  that  explains  this  hold  of  Schwartz  upon  the 
natives,  high  and  low.  We  mourn  the  corruption  of  our 
public  life,  and  we  do  well  to  mourn ;  it  is  a  crying  dis- 


SCHWARTZ 


^55 


grace  to  a  commonwealth  like  Pennsylvania;  but  as  com- 
pared with  Oriental  countries  we  do  not  know  what  cor- 
ruption means.  The  great  majority  of  our  voters  would 
scorn  to  take  money  for  their  votes ;  the  decisions  of  our 
courts  cannot  be  bought  with  money,  directly;  there  are 
many  in  places  of  trust  who  do  not  believe  that  public 
/Office  is  a  private  snap  and  whose  god  is  not  "  graft  " ; 
and  Diogenes  with  his  lantern  might  find  an  honest  police- 
man on  Chestnut  Street.^  But  in  the  India  of  Schwartz's 
day  there  was  not  an  honest  man— native  or  European,  all 
were  tarred  by  the  same  foul  brush  of  corruption.  Every 
magistrate  or  public  officer  would  take  bribes  and  practise 
every  known  means  of  extortion.  For  the  first  Europeans 
—from  the  highest,  like  Clive  and  Hastings,  to  the  lowest 
clerk  or  private  in  the  ranks— were  adventurers,  who  had 
come  to  India  to  get  the  last  penny  that  could  be  squeezed 
out  of  it;  and  on  their  return  to  their  own  country  with 
their  ill-gotten  wealth,  so  far  from  ever  blushing  for  what 
they  had  done,  they  were  simply  astonished  at  their  own 
moderation.  Things  have  improved  since  then  among  the 
Europeans,  and  possibly  among  the  natives  also. 

But  Schwartz  was  known  to  be  an  honest  man.  He 
was  not  "  on  the  make."  He  had  few  wants  and  his 
slender  salary  more  than  supplied  them.  A  strip  of  native 
cloth  for  clothing,  a  room  that  would  just  contain  his  bed 
and  himself,  a  handful  of  rice— he  asked  no  more;  and 
this  not  because  he  was  in  the  least  an  ascetic,  but 
because  he  really  wanted  nothing  further.  To  such  a 
man  what  was  money?  From  the  first  he  would  accept 
no  compensation  for  his  services.  What  he  could  do  to 
promote  the  interests  of  his  fellow-men,  white  or  black, 
princes  or  peasants,  that  he  would  freely  do.     His  actual 

1  These  illustrations  were  "  calculated  for  the  latitude  of  Philadelphia," 
as  the  almanacs  say.  But  change  the  proper  names  and  the  statements 
will  be  equally  true  for  any  part  of  the  United   States. 


256  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

traveling  expenses  he  permitted  his  employers  to  pay,  but 
not  a  rupee  further  could  he  be  persuaded  to  accept.  In 
the  one  or  two  cases  when  presents  were  literally  forced 
upon  him,  and  he  could  not  return  them  without  giving 
mortal  offense,  he  used  them  for  his  mission  buildings.  Is 
it  any  wonder  that  all  men  came  to  believe  in  him  and  to 
trust  in  him,  as  they  trusted  no  other  living  man? 

After  peace  was  restored  to  Southern  India,  there  was 
little  of  the  eventful  in  Schwartz's  life.  He  remained 
unmarried,  and  he  never  revisited  Europe.  He  was  a 
most  laborious  missionary,  so  busy  with  his  various  serv- 
ices that  he  found  little  time  for  study,  save  at  night. 
Notwithstanding  the  reputation  of  this  part  of  India  for 
a  climate  peculiarly  deadly  to  Europeans,  he  was  able  to 
continue  his  missionary  labors  forty-eight  years,  practi- 
cally unbroken  by  sickness.  Nor  is  this  longevity  unex- 
ampled. Many  missionaries  have  labored  in  that  region 
over  forty  years,  and  have  lived  to  be  above  seventy.  It 
is  probable  that,  given  a  fairly  good  constitution  to  begin 
with,  more  depends  on  an  intelligent  observance  of  the 
laws  of  health  than  on  any  climate.  There  are  theological 
students  and  ministers  who  do  not  know  how  to  take  care 
of  themselves  and  cannot  be  taught,  and  who  do  not 
even  learn  anything  from  experience;  they  are  always 
ailing,  frequently  compelled  to  give  up  their  studies  or 
resign  their  pastorates  because  of  ill  health.  They  always 
berate  the  climate,  and  though  they  change  locations  every 
year  and  try  every  State  in  the  Union,  and  though  their 
admiring  and  pitying  congregations  send  them  to  Europe 
frequently,  they  will  never  find  a  climate  suitable  for  them 
this  side  of  heaven,  for  the  fault  is  in  them — though  you 
could  not  make  one  of  them  believe  that,  if  you  repeated 
it  until  doomsday.  Such  men,  when  they  become  mis- 
sionaries, die  young,  and  then  their  friends  in  America 
groan  and  say,  "  Oh,  the  dreadful  climate!  " 


SCHWARTZ  257 

It  was  the  privilege  of  Schwartz  to  continue  at  his  post 
and  work  almost  to  the  last.  Only  the  few  closing  weeks 
of  a  life  of  seventy-two  years  were  without  fruit;  and 
even  of  these  that  should  not  be  said,  for  the  patience  and 
fortitude  and  calm  trust  with  which  he  met  the  great 
enemy  were  a  better  sermon  than  any  he  ever  preached. 
The  end  came  February  13,  1798.  Serf  ogee,  the  rajah, 
whose  guardian  and  instructor  he  had  been,  visited  him 
during  his  last  hours,  and  over  his  grave  erected  a  monu- 
ment to  the  memory  of  Father  Schwartz,  designed  by 
Flaxman,  and  representing  the  rajah  as  grasping  the  mis- 
sionary's hand  and  receiving  his  benediction.  On  a 
marble  slab  is  the  following  inscription : 

To  the  memory  of  the 

Rev.  Christian  Friederich  Schwartz 

Born  Sonnenberg,  of  Neumark,  in  the  kingdom  of  Prussia, 

The  28th  October,  1726, 

And  died  at  Tanjore  the  13th  February,  1798, 

In  the  72nd  year  of  his  age, 

Devoted  in  his  early  manhood  to  the  office  of 

Missionary  in  the  East, 

The  similarity  of  his  situation  to  that  of 

The  first  preachers  of  the  gospel, 

Produced  in  him  a  peculiar  resemblance  to 

The  simple  sanctity  of  the 

Apostolic  character. 

His  natural  vivacity  Mron  the  affection 

As  his  unspotted  probity  and  purity  of  life 

Alike  commanded  the  reverence  of  the 

Christian,  Mohammedan  and  Hindu: 

For  sovereign  princes,  Hindu  and  Mohammedan, 

Selected  this  humble  pastor 

As  the  medium  of  political  negotiation  with 

The  British  Government: 

And  the  very  marble  that  here  records  his  virtues 

Was  raised  by 

The  liberal  affection  and  esteem  of  the 

Rajah  of  Tanjore, 

Mahah  Rajah  Serf  ogee. 

R 


258  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

Several  other  monuments  reared  to  his  memory  testify 
to  the  regard  in  which  this  missionary  was  held.  One, 
erected  by  the  English  East  India  Company,  has  an  elab- 
orate inscription,  of  which  the  following  is  a  part : 

On  a  spot  of  ground  granted  to  him  by  the  Rajah  of  Tanjore, 
two  miles  east  of  Tanjore,  he  built  a  house  for  his  residence,  and 
made  it  an  orphan  asylum.  Here  the  last  twenty  years  of  his 
life  were  spent  in  the  education  and  religious  instruction  of  chil- 
dren, particularly  those  of  indigent  parents,  whom  he  gratu- 
itously maintained  and  instructed;  and  here,  on  the  thirteenth  of 
February,  1798,  surrounded  by  his  infant  flock,  and  in  the  pres- 
ence of  several  of  his  disconsolate  brethren,  he  closed  his  truly 
Christian  career,  in  the  seventy-second  year  of  his  age. 

Schwartz  was  a  genuine  missionary;  he  spent  the 
greater  part  of  his  life  and  strength  in  doing  the  work  of 
a  Christian  evangelist  among  the  heathen.  The  preaching 
of  the  gospel  was  the  one  great  thing  to  which  he  was 
called,  and  he  was  faithful  to  his  calling.  That  cannot 
be  too  emphatically  said,  and  all  that  follows  must  be 
judged  in  the  light  of  this  fact.  But  he  was  also  the 
founder  of  the  first  Christian  schools  for  the  training  of 
heathen  children,  and  thus  introduced  a  new  missionary 
method  which — in  the  hands  of  others,  not  in  his — became 
a  substitute  for  preaching,  often  to  the  exclusion  of  the 
latter  altogether,  or  nearly  so.  He  was  not  the  absolute 
originator  of  the  educational  idea  as  applied  to  missions ; 
Ziegenbalg  was  before  him  in  its  advocacy,  and  but  for 
absorption  in  the  work  of  translation  and  the  early 
poverty  of  the  mission,  he  and  not  Schwartz  would  very 
likely  have  founded  the  first  schools. 

And  it  is  not  strange  that  the  missionaries  should  have 
their  minds  turned  in  this  direction.  The  teaching  instinct 
was  in  their  blood.  Germany  is  a  nation  of  schoolmas- 
ters ;  in  every  department  of  knowledge,  her  sons  are  the 
world's  teachers,  and  in  every  land  under  the  sun  those 


SCHWARTZ  259 

who  would  learn  must  sit  at  their  feet.  There  was  every- 
thing in  their  environment  to  call  forth  this  instinct  in 
the  missionaries.  Progress  among  the  adult  heathen  of 
India  has  never,  with  a  few  exceptions,  been  rapid,  and 
in  the  beginning  of  the  Danish  mission  it  was  very  slow. 
The  workers  felt,  as  those  who  work  among  the  foreign 
populations  in  our  land  feel,  that  the  best  prospect  of  suc- 
cess, not  to  say  tlie  only  real  prospect  of  success,  is  among 
the  children.  Accordingly,  the  first  missionaries  actually 
bought  heathen  children  from  their  parents,  to  educate 
them  like  Christians,  with  the  hope  that  they  would  not 
only  be  converted,  but  would  become  preachers  to  their 
own  people. 

It  was  in  pursuance  of  this  policy  that  Schwartz 
founded  his  schools,  in  which  children  were  provided  with 
homes  and  a  living  gratis,  and  given  the  elements  of  a 
secular  education,  at  the  same  time  being  catechised  after 
the  Lutheran  method.  The  plan  seemed  good,  laudable 
even,  and  it  was  pursued  with  German  diligence,  persist- 
ence, and  thoroughness.  All  that  such  schools  could  rea- 
sonably be  expected  to  accomplish  was  done  at  Tranquebar 
and  the  other  Danish  stations. 

And  what  was  the  result?  Disproportionate  attention 
to  the  schools,  in  the  first  place,  and  a  disproportionate 
outlay  on  their  maintenance,  until  preaching  of  the  gospel 
was  thrust  into  the  background.  Secondly,  as  the  spirit 
of  fervent  piety  among  the  missionaries  declined,  as  it 
rapidly  did  after  the  death  of  Schwartz,  the  work  took  on 
a  formal  character ;  less  and  less  evidence  of  regeneration 
was  demanded  or  sought  in  the  children  so  educated,  and 
they  were  at  length  received  into  the  church  much  as 
they  were  graduated  from  the  schools,  as  if  that  were 
the  natural  and  inevitable  end  of  their  course  of  instruc- 
tion. The  quality  of  the  native  Christians  proportionally 
declined.     Thirdly,  in  the  schools  themselves  the  secular 


26o  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

instruction  was  continually  increased  and  the  religious 
training  diminished,  until  the  latter  lost  most  of  any  effect- 
iveness it  once  possessed,  while  the  former  still  failed  to 
equal  in  excellence  the  schools  at  length  established  by  the 
government.  Finally  the  government  felt  moved  to  sug- 
gest that  the  schools  either  be  abandoned  by  the  mission- 
aries, or  be  put  under  State  control  and  become  purely 
secular — which  latter  course  was  adopted  in  not  a  few 
cases,  and  the  missionaries  became  mere  secular  teachers. 
From  every  point  of  view,  therefore,  the  experiment  was 
a  failure.  Especially  disastrous  was  the  failure  to  make 
the  schools  a  substitute  for  the  preaching  of  the  gospel. 
The  theoretical  advantages  urged  in  favor  of  the  religious 
instruction  of  children,  as  the  most  effective  means  of 
evangelization,  though  plausible  in  the  extreme,  did  not 
in  practice  produce  the  hoped-for  results,  or  anything 
like  them. 

But  this  failure  did  not  prevent  the  trial  of  the  same 
method  on  nearly  every  new  mission  field,  from  the  time 
of  Schwartz  until  now.  The  missionaries  of  every  de- 
nomination have  taken  their  turn  at  applying  the  school 
idea  to  the  evangelization  of  the  heathen.  The  method 
does  not  lack  strong  advocates  and  numerous  practical 
enforcements  at  present.  There  will  be  possibly  two 
schools  of  thought  among  Christian  missionaries  to  the 
end  of  time.  Just  as  every  man  is  by  temperament  a 
radical  or  a  conservative,  an  optimist  or  a  pessimist,  so 
every  missionary  is  predestined  by  nature  and  training  to 
be  a  teacher  or  a  preacher.  He  may  be  both,  but  one  or 
the  other  will  in  his  heart  of  hearts  be  his  favorite  method, 
to  which  he  will  resort  whenever  possible. 

And  it  should  be  frankly  conceded  that  there  is  a  place 
for  both  in  all  missionary  eft'ort — for  the  teacher  as  well 
as  the  preacher  is  called  and  commissioned  for  this  work. 
One  thing  upon  which  there  is  no  disagreement  is,  that 


SCHWARTZ  261 

next  to  the  immediate  work  of  preaching  the  gospel,  the 
missionary  should  look  to  the  raising  up  of  a  native  min- 
istry. But  that  implies  Christian  education,  and  the 
founding  of  a  school  at  the  first  possible  moment.  But 
such  schools  are  to  be  strictly  for  those  already  Chris- 
tians, to  fit  them  for  work  among  their  own  people,  as 
pastors,  colporters,  Bible  women,  and  the  like.  This  is 
altogether  apart  from  the  other  question  of  schools  de- 
signed to  be  an  evangelizing  agency,  the  pupils  in  which 
are  to  be  heathen  children,  and  in  which  the  instruction  is 
to  be  mainly  or  largely  secular.  The  former  may  be 
properly  founded  and  supported  by  a  foreign  missionary 
society  as  an  integral  part  of  its  work. 

Again,  it  may  be  conceded,  insisted  rather,  that  as  the 
progress  of  a  mission  results  in  the  establishment  of  a 
Christian  community,  need  will  arise  for  the  establishment 
of  schools  for  the  instruction  of  children  of  Christian  con- 
verts. These  schools  will  be  mainly,  perhaps  purely, 
secular  as  to  their  instruction.  They  will  not,  in  most 
cases,  be  conducted  by  missionaries,  though  they  may  be 
under  missionary  inspection  and  control,  but  by  educated 
natives,  and  they  should  be  founded  and  supported  by 
the  communities  for  which  they  exist.  Missionary  socie- 
ties should  not  be  called  upon  to  provide  such  schools. 
If  they  receive  aid  at  all  from  the  country  whence  the 
missionaries  came,  it  should  be  private  beneficence.  It  is 
monstrous  to  suppose  that  because  we  undertake  to  give 
the  gospel  to  the  heathen,  we  assume  the  burden  of  pro- 
viding for  all  the  wants  of  the  converts  for  all  time  to 
come.  Yet  many  missionary  appeals  and  much  missionary 
practice  seem  based  on  some  such  theory  as  that. 

But  schools  for  evangelization  must  have  as  pupils 
heathen  children  mainly,  or  no  advance  is  made  through 
this  agency.  And  the  practical  difficulty  that  has  always 
emerged  in  any  system  of  this  kind  is  that  it  is  impossible 


262  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

to  unite  the  two  ideals  of  secular  education  and  evan- 
gelization without  a  loss  of  efficiency  in  one  or  the  other, 
perhaps  in  both.  The  schools  will  generally  prove  un- 
equal for  secular  training  to  schools  established  by  gov- 
ernments. In  the  interval  between  the  beginning  of  mis- 
sionary effort  and  the  establishment  of  government 
schools — an  interval  shorter  or  longer  in  various  cases — 
the  mission  schools  would  not,  of  course,  be  liable  to  this 
objection.  The  interval  proved  very  short  in  India  and 
Japan,  and  another  decade  or  two  will  see  a  State  educa- 
tional system  in  China  that  will  put  mission  schools  under 
a  great  competitive  disadvantage.  But  in  Africa,  for 
example,  it  is  probable  that  a  long  period  will  elapse 
before  there  will  be  such  social  or  political  organization  as 
in  these  countries  of  an  older  civilization  and  greater  sus- 
ceptibility to  European  influence.  Yet  this  also  must  be 
added :  where  all  the  conditions  have  been  most  favorable 
for  such  schools,  they  have  signally  failed  to  accomplish 
the  one  end  for  which  they  are  supposed  to  exist,  the 
conversion  of  the  heathen  children  to  Christianity. 

This  is  especially  the  case  in  those  missions  where  con- 
version means  what  it  means  in  America,  not  a  mere 
willingness  to  be  baptized  and  bear  the  name  of  Chris- 
tians, but  a  real,  personal,  living  faith  in  Jesus  Christ 
as  Saviour,  shown  to  be  such  by  a  changed  character  and 
a  godly  life.  Those  schools  have  been  most  fruitful  as 
evangelizing  agencies  that  are  maintained  by  missionaries 
who  believe  regeneration  to  be  accomplished  by  baptism 
and  that  training  in  a  catechism,  the  Ten  Commandments, 
and  similar  Christian  formularies  carries  forward  those 
regenerated  in  baptism  to  the  reception  of  the  Eucharist 
and  the  completion  of  their  salvation.  In  other  words,  the 
educational  idea  is  an  admirable  complement  of  the  sac- 
ramental idea,  and  the  school  system  will  often  prove 
wonderfully  efficient  in  making  converts  of  the  kind  de- 


SCHWARTZ  263 

manded  by  the  sacramental  system.  But  a  method  of 
which  this  is  true  is  sure  to  be  worthless  to  those  who 
require  credible  evidence  of  regeneration  in  their  professed 
converts  before  baptizing  them. 

Thus  experience  has  been  gradually  making  clear  to 
missionaries  and  the  societies  that  send  them  forth  the 
limits  within  which  the  educational  idea  is  applicable  to 
each  mission  field,  and  the  relative  expenditure  of  time, 
effort,  and  money  that  is  advisable.  What  may  be  called 
a  science  of  missionary  economics  has  gradually  been 
worked  out  as  the  result  of  two  centuries  of  experience, 
and  though  some  problems  yet  remain  to  be  solved,  and 
tlie  final  word  may  not  have  been  said  as  yet  about  some 
others,  there  is  a  good  working  basis  for  the  present  con- 
duct of  missions.  We  are  past  the  stage  of  haphazard 
experimentation,  if  we  have  not  yet  reached  that  of  com- 
plete certitude.  And  to  this  result  few  missionaries  have 
contributed  more  than  Christian  Friederich  Schwartz. 


XIV 

ZINZENDORF:   THE  MORAVIAN 

PIONEERS   IN    MODERN 

MISSIONS 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

The  voluminous  writings  of  Zinzendorf  are  mostly  out  of 
print  and  out  of  date.  An  edition  of  his  sermons,  in  ten  volumes, 
was  published  a  few  years  after  his  death,  and  there  have  been 
numerous  editions  of  his  Geistliche  Gedichte,  the  book  by  which 
he  will  be  longest  remembered.  Biographies  in  German  are 
numerous,  the  best  being  by  Spangenberg  (Barby,  1772-5;  English 
translation,  much  abridged,  by  Jackson,  London,  1838),  Verbeek 
(Gnaden,  1845),  and  Pilgrim  (excellent,  though  by  a  Roman 
Catholic,  Leipzig,  1857).  A  French  biography  by  Bovet  (Paris, 
i860)  has  been  translated  into  English,  with  the  title  of  The 
Banished  Count  (London,  1865).  The  latest  is  Miiller,  Zinzen- 
dorf als  Erneuerer  der  Alien  Briiderkirche  (Leipzig,  1900).  Other 
books  containing  material  of  interest  and  value  are:  Plitt,  Zin- 
zendorf s  Theologie  (three  vols.,  Gotha,  1869-74)  >  Burkhardt, 
Zinzendorf  und  die  Brudergemeine  Seiner  Zeit  (Gotha,  1886)  ; 
Schroder,  Zinzendorf  und  Herrnhut  (Nordhausen,  1857).  The 
best  history  of  the  old  Moravian  Church  is  that  of  Bishop  de 
Schweinitz  (Bethlehem,  1885),  while  the  story  of  the  revived 
church  has  been  well  told  by  Professor  Hamilton  (Bethlehem, 
1900).  Two  books  throwing  great  light  on  the  early  missionary 
work  in  America  are:  de  Schweinitz,  Life  and  Times  of  David 
Zeisberger  (Philadelphia,  1870),  and  the  Diary  of  David  Zeis- 
berger  (two  vols.,  Cincinnati,  1885).  Risler's  biography  of  Spang- 
enberg (Barby,  1794)  is  also  very  valuable.  The  best  available 
book  on  the  general  missionary  operations  of  the  church  is 
Thompson,  Moravian  Missions  (New  York,  1882). 


XIV 

zinzendorf:  the  Moravian  pioneers  in  modern 
missions 

NO  great  cause  ever  began  in  a  smaller  way,  or  pro- 
gressed more  slowly,  than  modern  Protestant  mis- 
sions. How  small  a  part  of  the  great  Lutheran  churches 
of  Europe  were  interested  in  the  Indian  mission,  we  have 
already  seen,  and  it  was  several  generations  before  the 
next  forward  movement  was  taken  by  them.  In  the 
meantime  a  much  more  impressive  lesson  of  devotion 
to  this  work  was  afforded  by  another  body  of  Christians, 
who,  in  proportion  to  numbers  and  wealth,  occupied  and 
still  hold  the  foremost  place  in  the  world's  evangelizing 
agencies. 

"  Moravians  "  is  a  name  that  accident  has  given  to  a 
people  whose  own  title  is  Unitas  Fratrum,  the  Unity  of 
the  Brethren.  They  are  in  no  way  to  be  confounded  with 
the  United  Brethren,  a  denomination  of  quite  recent 
origin  in  our  own  country.  The  teachings  of  John  Hus, 
Peter  Chelcicky,  and  other  Bohemian  reformers  resulted 
in  the  gradual  gathering  of  a  group  of  people  who  desired 
a  more  radical  reform  than  the  Utraquist  party  promised. 
These  people  were  permitted  to  settle  at  Kunwald,  a  vil- 
lage near  Lititz.  Here  in  1457  a  church  was  organized, 
and  twenty-eight  elders  were  chosen  to  be  their  spiritual 
guides.  The  name  chosen  by  these  people  and  ever  since 
retained  in  all  their  official  documents  was  Unitas  Fra- 
trum, sometimes  abbreviated  to  ''  The  Unity."  It  was 
soon  found  necessary  to  separate  from  the  Utraquist 
Church,  and  establish  a  church  and  ministry  of  their  own. 

267 


268  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

In  order  that  they  might  not  be  exposed  to  needless  criti- 
cism and  persecution  on  the  ground  of  invaUd  orders,  they 
chose  three  of  their  number  by  lot  and  sent  them  to  a 
colony  of  Waldensians  then  living  in  Moravia,  whose 
bishop,  Stephen  by  name,  had  been  consecrated  in  1434 
by  prelates  of  the  Council  of  Basel.  From  Bishop 
Stephen  these  men  received  consecration  as  bishops,  and 
the  line  of  episcopal  succession  has  remained  unbroken 
to  this  day. 

When  the  Reformation  began,  the  Bohemian  Breth- 
ren, as  they  were  then  called,  maintained  friendly  rela- 
tions with  all  the  reformers,  though  effecting  no  organic 
union  with  any  of  the  new  Protestant  churches.  Luther 
is  on  record  as  saying  of  them :  "  Since  the  time  of  the 
apostles  no  church  has  as  nearly  resembled  the  apostolic 
churches  as  the  Bohemian  Brethren."  They  extended 
their  congregations  into  Moravia  and  Poland,  and  in 
1 610  became  a  legally  recognized  church  in  Bohemia. 
The  beginning  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War  and  the  Counter- 
Reformation  in  Bohemia  and  Moravia  was  the  signal  for 
a  persecution  of  these  people,  which  increased  in  relent- 
less bitterness  until  all  outward  signs  of  their  existence 
vanished.  It  was  believed  by  the  Roman  Catholic  perse- 
cutors that  the  Unitas  Fratrum  had  wholly  ceased  to 
exist. 

Nevertheless,  they  remained  as  a  hidden  seed,  which 
even  the  keen  eyes  of  Jesuit  missionaries  were  unable  to 
discover.  During  this  period  they  sometimes  resorted 
to  expedients  that  cannot  be  defended  on  moral  grounds, 
to  avoid  complete  destruction.  They  practised  more  or  less 
outward  conformity  to  the  Roman  Church,  and  were  able 
to  blind  their  Jesuit  inquisitors  by  exhibiting  certificates 
of  auricular  confession  bought  from  their  Catholic  neigh- 
bors. The  line  of  bishops,  by  secret  consecrations,  was 
preserved  intact.     At  length,  one  Christian  David,  who 


ZINZENDORF  269 

li ad  learned  the  trade  of  carpenter  and  labored  in  various 
parts  of  Germany,  was  besought  by  some  of  the  brethren 
remaining  in  Moravia  to  discover  a  retreat  in  some  Prot- 
estant State,  to  which  they  might  remove  and  live  in 
peace.  After  a  search  of  some  three  years,  in  May,  1722, 
David  brought  them  word  that  a  pious  young  nobleman. 
Count  Nicholas  Lewis  von  Zinzendorf,  was  willing  to  give 
them  a  refuge  on  his  estate  of  Berthelsdorf,  in  Saxony.^ 
A  few  nights  later,  ten  persons  in  all,  including  four  chil- 
dren, abandoning  all  their  possessions  that  could  not  be 
easily  carried,  set  out  on  foot  for  this  land  of  promise. 

Arriving  at  their  new  home,  they  founded  a  town  that 
they  named  Herrnhut  (Watch  of  the  Lord),  and  in  the 
next  seven  years  some  three  hundred  of  the  brethren 
came  to  them  from  various  quarters  of  Moravia  and 
Bohemia.  From  the  circumstance  that  the  first  settlers, 
and  probably  most  of  the  later  comers,  were  from  Mora- 
via, the  name  Moravian  Brethren,  or  Moravians,  be- 
came their  popular  designation.  By  their  industry,  thrift, 
and  piety  they  became  a  flourishing  and  respected  relig- 
ious community;  but  there  was  among  them  no  man  of 
the  intellectual  gifts  and  training  requisite  for  leadership. 

It  was  when  bringing  his  bride  home  to  his  estate  at 
Berthelsdorf  that  Count  Zinzendorf  first  became  ac- 
quainted with  the  little  band  of  exiles  to  whom  he  had 
given  a  refuge.  He  recognized  their  simple  and  genuine 
piety,  gave  them  a  cordial  welcome,  and  showed  them 
many  practical  tokens  of  his  favor,  but  nothing  would 
have  seemed  less  likely  than  that  he  should  become  a 
member  of  that  community,  and  for  many  years  its  head 
and  director.  All  his  surroundings,  pursuits,  and  pros- 
pects seemed  to  be  impassable  barriers  against  such  a 
course.  And  yet  one  who  had  known  something  of  the 
history  of  his  inner  life  might  have  predicted  with  confi- 
dence that  which  finally  came  to  pass. 


270  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

Six  weeks  after  his  birth  at  Dresden,  May  26,  1700, 
his  father  died,  and  his  mother  afterward  remarried,  so 
that  his  education  and  training  were  committed  to  his 
grandmother  and  aunt.  These  two  women  were  distin- 
guished pietists,  personal  friends  as  well  as  disciples  of 
Spener.  It  was  the  Roman  Catholic  Archbishop  Hughes 
who  once  declared,  "  Give  me  the  training  of  a  child  for 
his  first  ten  years,  and  I  care  not  who  has  him  after- 
wards." In  his  first  ten  years  these  two  pious  women  made 
indelible  impressions  upon  the  plastic  mind  and  heart  of 
young  Zinzendorf.  They  in  fact  determined  the  whole 
course  of  his  life,  and  all  the  temptations  and  allure- 
ments that  this  world  can  bring  to  bear  upon  a  man 
young,  titled,  rich,  and  talented,  could  not  turn  him  aside 
for  long.  He  was  distinguished  for  a  precocious  piety, 
but  it  did  not  give  place,  as  too  often  happens,  to  outra- 
geous wickedness  in  later  years,  or  even  degenerate  into 
the  hypocrisy  and  priggishness  that  also  is  sadly  frequent. 

At  the  age  of  ten  he  entered  the  grammar  school  estab- 
lished by  Francke  at  Halle,  and  in  his  sixteenth  year  was 
admitted  to  the  university.  He  had  determined  to  devote 
his  life  to  his  Lord,  and  had  a  strong  desire  to  be  a 
preacher  of  the  gospel.  His  whole  family  of  titled  rela- 
tives, including  his  excellent  and  truly  pious  grandmother, 
were  shocked  at  the  idea  of  a  count  becoming  a  mere  min- 
:ister.  The  pressure  thus  brought  to  bear  upon  him  was 
"'too  strong  to  be  resisted  by  a  lad  of  his  years,  and  finally 
his  guardian  gave  him  express  commands  to  study  law 
and  qualify  himself  to  care  for  his  estates  and  pursue 
his  father's  career  as  councilor  and  minister  of  State. 
He  completed  his  studies  in  17 19,  and  supplemented  them 
with  a  course  of  foreign  travels.  In  the  course  of  these 
he  visited  a  picture  gallery  at  Diisseldorf,  in  which  was 
an  Ecce  Homo,  with  the  inscription  Hoc  feci  pro  te,  quid 
facts  pro  me?    This  made  a  deep  impression  upon  him. 


ZINZENDORF  27 1 

renewing  in  his  soul  those  convictions  that  had  been  so 
combated  by  his  elders. 

On  returning  home  he  received  an  offer  from  Francke 
to  become  the  successor  of  Baron  Canstein  in  the  Bible 
House  at  Halle,  a  work  altogether  congenial  to  his  tastes 
and  desires,  but  completely  distasteful  to  his  family  again. 
Once  more  he  yielded  to  his  relations,  declined  the  offer, 
and  accepted  the  office  of  judicial  councilor  under  the 
king  of  Saxony.  His  marriage  followed  shortly  after, 
and  now  his  family  probably  breathed  more  easily.  His 
wife  was  young,  handsome,  presumably  fond  of  pleasure, 
and  might  be  expected  to  keep  him  straight,  if  he  dis- 
played any  further  erratic  tendencies.  At  any  rate,  his 
family  had  done  all  they  could  to  start  him  on  the  right 
path  in  life  and  might  complacently  wash  their  hands  of 
further  responsibility  for  him.  But  it  turned  out  other- 
wise. The  countess  had  also  a  pietistic  training,  sympa- 
thized with  her  husband's  desires  for  a  life  of  piety  and 
religious  service,  and  was  his  chief  counselor  and  helper 
during  their  joint  lives. 

Gradually  Zinzendorf  began  to  withdraw  from  the 
world  of  politics  and  pleasure,  and  devote  himself  to  the 
work  of  preaching  and  teaching  the  gospel.  His  first 
idea  was  not  to  separate  from  the  Lutheran  Church,  but 
to  found  a  kind  of  Christian  association  or  league,  in 
v/hich  all  pious  souls  might  join.  He  soon  became  con- 
vinced that  this  was  impracticable,  and  at  the  same  time 
he  found  himself  more  and  more  interested  in  the  colony 
at  Herrnhut,  of  whose  history  he  began  to  learn  some- 
thing. He  determined  to  do  all  in  his  power  to  resusci- 
tate the  Unitas  Fratrum,  and  in  1727  he  resigned  his 
office  at  Dresden,  took  up  his  abode  at  Berthelsdorf,  and 
joined  the  Moravians.  On  August  13,  at  the  celebration 
of  the  Lord's  Supper,  there  was  a  great  outpouring  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  upon  the  congregation,  and  this  day  has 


272  CHRISTIAN   EPOCH-MAKERS 

ever  since  been  regarded  as  the  spiritual  birthday  of  the 
renewed  church.  His  further  services  in  estabHshing 
and  extending  the  church,  must  be  summarized  with 
brevity.  He  became  their  leader,  shaped  their  develop- 
ment, settled  their  discipline,  secured  for  them  the  episco- 
pal succession  of  the  Bohemian  Brethren,  induced  various 
governments  to  recognize  the  church,  spent  his  property 
lavishly  in  their  service,  himself  became  one  of  their ^ 
bishops — in  a  word,  gave  them  his  life,  his  all.  That 
there  is  a  Moravian  Church  in  the  world  to-day,  is  due 
to  the  providence  of  God  and  to  Count  Zinzendorf. 

But  he  did  more  than  this:  he  established  the  church 
on  a  foundation  from  which  it  has  never  been  moved; 
he  settled  its  character  for  all  time.  And  in  this  too, 
how  plainly  it  appears  that  he  was  only  the  instrument 
of  divine  Providence!  In  April,  1731,  Count  Zinzen- 
dorf went  to  Copenhagen  to  attend  the  coronation  of 
King  Christian  VI.  Here  he  heard  of  the  spiritual  con- 
dition of  the  people  of  Greenland,  and  of  the  mission  of 
Hans  Egede.  His  relation  of  these  facts  to  the  congre- 
gation, on  his  return  to  Herrnhut,  made  a  deep  impres- 
sion upon  them,  but  led  to  no  immediate  action  on  their 
part.  They  deemed  themselves  too  weak  for  the  begin- 
ning of  any  general  missionary  enterprise,  and  possibly 
Zinzendorf  himself  felt  that  it  would  be  unwise  to  press 
the  matter  just  then.  Only  ten  years  had  passed  since 
the  first  fugitives  settled  at  Herrnhut ;  they  numbered  but 
six  hundred  in  all,  and  were  only  just  emerged  from  a 
condition  of  dire  poverty. 

Some  of  the  count's  attendants,  while  at  Copenhagen, 
met  a  Negro  who  informed  them  concerning  the  religious 
destitution  of  his  race  in  the  West  Indies.  This  same 
Negro  afterward  visited  Herrnhut,  and  in  this  way  the 
facts  became  widely  known  in  the  community.  Without 
consultation  with  each  other  or  with  any  other  person,  a 


21N2END0RF  273 

simultaneous  desire  was  enkindled  in  the  hearts  of  two 
young  men  to  preach  the  gospel  to  these  poor  slaves. 
Leonhard  Dober  was  a  potter,  and  David  Nitzschmann 
a  carpenter;  neither  had  much  education,  or  any  experi- 
ence in  preaching,  and  their  united  wealth,  besides  the 
clothes  they  wore,  was  about  three  dollars  each.  The 
congregation  sympathized  but  slightly  with  their  desires 
and  offered  them  no  assistance,  but  Zinzendorf  gave  them 
his  God-speed.  At  Copenhagen,  after  much  discourage- 
ment and  delay,  they  secured  helpers,  embarked  from 
Holland,  October  8,  1732,  and  in  due  time  reached  St. 
Thomas. 

Here  they  began  their  work  of  preaching  to  the  Negroes 
at  once,  and  with  marked  success.  Nobody  had  pre- 
viously shown  any  interest  in  the  spiritual  welfare  of 
these  poor  people,  and  so  far  as  they  knew  anything  about 
the  Christian  religion,  they  had  supposed  it  to  be  for  the 
whites  alone.  After  a  time,  the  planters  opposed  the 
missionaries,  forbade  this  work,  and  had  them  impris- 
oned. The  arrival  of  Count  Zinzendorf  with  reenforce- 
ments  secured  their  release,  but  opposition  and  persecu- 
tion still  continued.  The  missionaries  worked  by  day 
for  their  support,  and  by  night  they  taught  the  Negroes. 
From  St.  Thomas  the  work  spread  to  St.  Croix  and  St. 
John,  and  later  to  Jamaica,  St.  Christopher's,  Antigua, 
Barbadoes,  and  others  of  the  smaller  islands.  The  mor- 
tality among  the  missionaries  was  very  great,  but  there 
was  never  any  lack  of  new  laborers  to  take  the  places  of 
those  who  fell.  There  have  been  missions  that  could 
make  a  greater  showing  of  statistics,  and  those  who  esti- 
mate the  value  of  everything  in  figures  would  doubtless 
find  this  a  small  affair;  but  there  are  few  brighter  pages 
in  the  history  of  Christian  missions  than  this  work  of 
the  Moravians  in  the  West  Indies,  if  one  take  into  ac- 
count the  difficulties  to  be  overcome,  the  patience  and 
s 


274  CHRISTIAN   ErOCH-MAKERS 

fidelity  of  the  missionaries,  the  completeness  of  their 
consecration,  and  the  depths  from  which  their  converts 
were  raised. 

The  next  missionary  advance  of  the  Moravians  was  in 
1738,  when  they  began  work  among  the  savages  of 
Guiana,  afterward  extended  to  the  Mosquito  coast  of 
Central  America.  These  Indians  are  a  far  more  bar- 
barous and  degraded  people  than  the  Indians  of  North 
America.  Christian  writers  of  high  standing,  even  within 
the  last  generation,  have  written  books  to  show  that  mis- 
sions in  some  places  involve  such  a  sacrifice  of  human 
life  that  they  should  not  be  undertaken;  and  further- 
more, that  some  peoples  are  practically  incapable  of  sal- 
vation. This  the  Moravians  have  ever  refused  to  believe. 
They  have  braved  all  dangers,  and  have  believed  no  man 
to  be  hopeless  for  whom  Christ  died. 

Whether  it  was  justifiable  to  send  men  and  women  to 
almost  certain  death  may  be  a  debatable  question,  but 
certainly  the  Christian  world  is  the  richer  for  these  exam- 
ples of  heroic  self-sacrifice.  We  honor  a  Hobson  who 
calmly  risks  his  life  in  his  country's  quarrel;  shall  we 
see  only  a  rash  fool  in  the  missionary  who  incurs  an  equal 
risk  for  his  Lord  and  his  truth?  If  the  soldier  who  leads 
a  forlorn  hope  is  a  hero,  not  less  heroic  is  the  missionary ; 
and  som.e  of  them  there  have  been  who  in  losing  their  lives 
have  most  truly  saved  them.  We  are  fortunate  perhaps, 
in  our  day,  that  one  great  danger  has  been  forever  re- 
moved, or  at  least  greatly  lessened;  that  the  knowledge 
lately  gained  concerning  the  means  by  which  malaria  and 
yellow  fever  are  communicated,  has  made  possible  a  few 
simple  precautions  by  which  life  in  regions  hitherto  sup- 
posed to  be  deadly  to  white  men  may  be  made  as  safe  as 
in  the  most  salubrious  climate.  In  fact,  it  is  now  defi- 
nitely known  that  these  two  deadly  diseases,  the  twin 
scourges  of  the  tropics,  are  not  a  matter  of  climate  at  all. 


ZINZENDORF  275 

except  very  remotely.  It  is  impossible  to  exaggerate  the 
effect  that  this  medical  discovery  may  have  during  the 
present  century  on  missionary  labors  in  regions  where 
up  to  now  no  white  man  has  been  able  to  live,  or  even 
to  visit  without  great  danger. 

Time  would  fail  to  speak  in  detail  of  all  the  missionary 
enterprises  of  the  Moravians,  their  labors  in  Greenland, 
Labrador,  and  Alaska  among  the  Eskimos,  of  their  mis- 
sions in  Africa,  Australia,  and  elsewhere,  of  their  work 
among  the  lepers,  of  their  missionary  failures  as  well  as 
successes.  But  there  is  one  part  of  their  history  of  which 
a  brief  account  is  indispensable,  for  it  has  a  peculiar 
interest  for  all  Americans. 

In  1736  Count  Zinzendorf  was  banished  from  Saxony. 
It  had  not  been  his  aim  to  separate  from  the  Lutheran 
Church,  but  to  adopt  the  method  of  Spener  and  organize 
the  Brethren  as  ecclesiolae  in  ecclesia,  little  societies 
within  the  church.  To  avoid  every  appearance  of  separa- 
tism, he  had  himself  sought  and  obtained  regular  ordina- 
tion as  a  Lutheran  minister.  But  his  purpose  was  impos- 
sible of  fulfilment,  as  John  Wesley  was  to  demonstrate  on 
a  still  larger  scale,  and  his  propaganda  created  consider- 
able disturbance  in  Lutheran  circles.  The  government 
was  easily  persuaded  by  the  clergy  that  if  the  leader  were 
out  of  the  way,  the  Herrnhut  people  could  be  easily  as- 
similated by  the  State  Church— though  in  this  the  clergy 
proved  to  be  far  too  sanguine. 

Some  of  the  years  of  his  banishment  (he  was  recalled 
in  1749)  Zinzendorf  spent  in  America,  principally  in  the 
new  colony  of  Pennsylvania,  which  had  been  largely  set- 
tled by  Germans.  He  made  a  deep  and  permanent  im- 
pression on  the  spiritual  life  of  the  colony,  though  he 
failed  in  his  project  of  uniting  the  various  denominations 
in  a  single  evangelical  brotherhood.  He  led  In  the  found- 
ing of  Moravian  churches,  and  from  this  time  on  certain 


276  CHRISTIAN   EPOCH-MAKERS 

towns  became  largely,  if  not  exclusively,  their  posses- 
sion— such  as  Bethlehem,  Nazareth,  Lancaster,  and  York, 
in  Pennsylvania,  and  New  Dorp,  Staten  Island.  The  ad- 
vance of  the  Moravians  was  however,  on  the  whole, 
retarded  rather  than  promoted  by  these  first  settlements, 
in  most  of  which  a  too  exclusively  communistic  Hfe  was 
adopted  and  rigidly  maintained  until  a  comparatively 
recent  time. 

Even  more  influential  in  extending  the  Moravian  influ- 
ence in  America  were  two  of  the  younger  men  of  Zinzen- 
dorf's  contemporaries,  August  Gottlieb  Spangenberg  and 
David  Zeisberger.  Spangenberg  was  a  native  of  Prussia, 
and  had  no  connection  with  the  Moravians  until  his  thir- 
tieth year,  though  he  had  met  Zinzendorf  and  been  much 
impressed  by  him  several  years  before.  In  1744  he  was 
made  a  bishop,  and  until  1762  he  was  practically  the  head 
of  the  American  Church,  directing  its  affairs  with  a  wis- 
dom and  prudence  that  caused  him  to  be  surnamed 
"  Joseph."  After  1762  he  returned  to  Hermhut  and  be- 
came the  successor  of  Zinzendorf  in  the  leadership  of  the 
whole  Church,  in  which  he  showed  a  zeal  only  less  and 
a  discretion  far  surpassing  his  great  predecessor's. 

David  Zeisberger  was  the  descendant  of  a  family  among 
the  original  Bohemian  Brethren,  whose  parents  emigrated 
to  America,  whither  he  followed  on  the  completion  of  his 
studies  at  Herrnhut.  He  helped  to  build  the  towns  of 
Nazareth  and  Bethlehem,  and  after  some  vicissitudes 
began  the  main  work  of  his  life,  as  missionary  to  the 
Indians,  in  1745.  He  preached  the  gospel  among  a  great 
number  of  the  tribes,  became  master  of  their  languages 
and  customs,  and  gained  their  fullest  confidence  and  love, 
so  that  he  was  at  length  adopted  into  one  of  the  tribes 
and  was  reckoned  by  the  Indians  thenceforth  as  one  of 
themselves.  He  established  thirteen  Christian  villages 
among  the  Indians,  and  his  converts  were  counted  by  hun- 


ZINZENDORF  2"]^ 

dreds.  There  is  much  contemporary  testimony  to  the 
thoroughness  and  value  of  his  work,  as  well  as  the  con- 
vincing and  circumstantial  account  that  he  has  himself 
given  us  in  his  journal.  His  influence  among  the  red 
men  was  unparalleled,  and  so  completely  was  he  able  to 
guide  their  counsels  that  unaided  he  persuaded  the  Dela- 
ware nation  not  to  join  the  Iroquois  and  the  British  in 
an  attack  on  the  colonies,  at  a  critical  period  of  the 
American  Revolution — a  service  to  his  country  that 
made  possible  the  defeat  and  capture  of  Burgoyne,  and 
hastened  the  end  of  the  war,  if  it  did  not  actually  secure 
the  independence  of  the  colonies.  It  was  Zeisberger's 
misfortune  to  spend  his  life  in  labors  among  a  race 
doomed  to  decay  and  extinction,  and  the  fruits  of  his 
missions  were  for  this  reason  less  permanent  than  he  had 
every  right  to  expect,  but  the  progress  of  the  gospel 
among  the  American  Indians  during  his  lifetime  is  a 
glorious  chapter  in  the  history  of  Christian  missions 
notwithstanding  this  unfortunate  sequel. 

The  history  of  Moravian  missions  offers  many  valu- 
able suggestions  to  thoughtful  students  of  missions. 
There  are  peculiar  features  in  their  work,  all  of  great 
interest,  some  capable  of  affording  much  instruction,  a 
few  offering  not  less  useful  warning  to  other  Christian 
bodies. 

The  most  weighty  lesson  taught  by  their  history  is  the 
place  that  missionary  effort  ought  to  occupy  in  the  thought 
and  life  of  every  church  and  denomination.  That  place 
is  the  supreme  place.  When  the  consciences  of  the  people 
of  Herrnhut  were  once  aroused,  when  their  minds  were 
once  enlightened  on  this  matter,  the  fulfilment  of  the 
Great  Commission  became  to  them  the  chief  end  of  their 
lives.  And  such  it  has  remained  to  this  day  among  all 
Moravians.  This  is  the  characteristic  feature  of  their 
Church;  it  is  in  the  world,  not  to  defend  a  theology,  not 


278  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

to  practise  a  rite  or  a  system  of  rites,  not  to  maintain  a 
polity,  but  to  proclaim  the  glad  tidings  of  the  kingdom 
of  God.  Of  all  the  Christian  people  I  have  ever  met,  the 
Moravians  seem  to  have  preserved  most  of  the  spirit  of 
apostolic  Christianity.  They  put  to  shame  other  Prot- 
estant and  evangelical  Christian  bodies  in  this :  that  they 
have  no  missionary  societies,  with  their  jealous  and  rival 
agencies  to  distract  the  interest  and  contract  the  benevo- 
lence of  their  members,  but  the  whole  Church,  in  all  its 
organization,  is  a  missionary  society.  It  exists  in  the 
world  for  no  other  purpose  than  the  proclamation  of 
the  gospel  and  the  gathering  of  God's  elect  from  among 
the  nations.  This  is  no  theory,  of  the  sort  that  look  pretty 
on  paper  and  sound  well  in  religious  addresses,  but  are 
totally  disregarded  in  practice.  It  is  the  actual  working 
of  the  Church  for  almost  two  centuries.  In  missionary 
method,  as  well  as  in  missionary  spirit,  the  Moravians  are 
fitted  to  give  lessons  to  all  the  Protestant  world — if  it 
would  only  consent  to  go  to  school  to  them,  which  it  is 
too  proud  and  obstinate  ever  to  do. 

Next  to  this  lesson  may  be  placed  the  determination  of 
the  Moravians  to  abide  by  the  Pauline  principle  of  build- 
ing on  no  other  man*s  foundations.  But  this  has  meant 
more  to  them  than  the  mere  refusal  to  enter  a  field  al- 
ready occupied.  A  principle  of  "  missionary  comity  "  has 
led  to  a  general  understanding  among  evangelical  de- 
nominations, that  so  long  as  there  are  unevangelized 
peoples  remaining,  new  missions  should  be  established 
by  any  denomination  only  among  those  who  have  not  yet 
heard  the  gospel.  But  long  before  this  "  missionary 
comity  "  existed,  Moravians  had  instinctively  accepted  this 
course,  and  joined  to  this  rule  another  not  less  admirable : 
they  would  especially  seek  out  and  devote  themselves  to 
peoples  whom  others  had  neglected,  tribes  and  nations 
from  whom  others  turned  in  disgust,  even  pronounced 


ZINZENDORF  279 

to  be  unworthy  of  attention  or  positively  incapable  of 
salvation.  So,  when  the  Church  of  England  ministers 
said  that  missions  to  the  American  Indians  were  useless ; 
when  the  Dutch  Reformed  people  said  that  an  Indian  had 
no  soul  and  could  not  be  saved ;  when  the  popular  opinion 
already  was  fixed  that  the  only  good  Indian  is  a  dead 
Indian,  the  Moravians  began  their  missions  and  continued 
them  until  whole  tribes  were  hopefully  converted. 

The  Moravians  were  the  first  to  preach  the  gospel  to 
the  enslaved  Negro.  They  first  told  the  story  of  the  cross 
to  the  Eskimos.  They  first  made  the  gospel  known  to  the 
Indian  tribes  of  Central  and  South  America.  They  es- 
tablished the  first  Protestant  hospital  among  the  lepers. 
And  in  most  such  cases  they  were  not  only  the  first — for 
a  long  time  they  were  the  only  workers  in  these  fields,  and 
in  some  of  them  they  still  have  no  helpers — for  I  will  not 
say  rivals.  Numerically  they  have  ever  been  a  feeble 
folk,  and  their  wealth  has  not  surpassed  their  numbers, 
but  in  missions  they  have  won  successes  proportionate  to 
their  ardent  faith  and  splendid  devotion. 

Considerable  interest  attaches  to  the  missionary  methods 
of  the  Moravians,  and  here  too,  other  denominations 
might  learn  from  them  if  they  would.  They  have  from 
the  first  sent  out  laymen  as  well  as  ministers,  and  of  the 
two  the  laymen  have  often  proved  the  more  effective. 
When  laymen  have  not  been  especially  efficient  as  teach- 
ers or  soul-winners,  as  has  sometimes  happened,  their 
sturdy  common  sense  and  practical  knowledge  have  even 
more  often  been  invaluable.  Wherever  they  have  gone, 
Moravians  have  been  successful  in  establishing  little 
Christian  communities,  self-supporting  and  independent. 
There  have  been  no  "  rice-Christians  "  among  their  con- 
verts, for  the  very  good  reason  that  there  has  been  no 
"  rice."  Converts  have  been  taught  and  helped  to  sup- 
port themselves,  but  have  never  been  supported.    Hence, 


28o  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

whatever  progress  the  missions  have  made  has  been  soHd 
and  permanent ;  it  has  been  gained  on  sound  economic,  as 
well  as  on  sound  religious,  principles. 

Not  only  have  the  Moravian  converts  always  been  self- 
supporting,  but  the  missionaries  themselves  have  been 
largely  so.  This  is  one  reason  why  so  small  a  church  and 
so  poor  has  been  able  to  accomplish  a  missionary  work 
so  large.  Some  whole  missions  have  been  conducted  by 
men  and  women  who  fully  supported  themselves.  The 
Moravian  missions,  in  fact,  are  and  always  have  been  an 
object-lesson  of  the  minimum  of  expense  and  the  maxi- 
mum of  efficiency.  It  is  objected,  when  study  of  these 
methods  and  their  intelligent  imitation  are  urged  upon  the 
directors  of  other  missionary  operations,  that  this  is  bad 
economy;  that  it  is  as  much  a  mistake  to  permit  a  mis- 
sionary to  expend  a  large  part  of  his  time  and  energies 
in  earning  his  living,  as  it  would  be  to  permit  a  preacher 
to  labor  at  a  secular  calling  during  the  week  and  preach 
evenings  and  Sundays.  But  is  it  certain  that  there  would 
be  so  great  a  loss  of  power  in  our  preachers  if  they  once 
more  reverted  to  the  older  method  ? 

A  great  loss  to  the  churches  of  the  pastoral  work  now 
done  by  ministers  would  necessarily  ensue — yet  that 
might  be  made  good  by  increased  activity  of  the  deacons 
and  other  lay  members.  But  as  to  pulpit  effectiveness, 
the  case  is  not  so  clear.  Sermons  made  by  men  en- 
gaged in  practical  affairs  might  lack  in  metaphysical  pro- 
fundity and  rhetorical  finish,  as  compared  with  those  now 
preached,  but  what  might  they  not  gain  in  point,  in  pun- 
gency, in  real  adaptation  to  the  needs  of  the  people  who 
hear?  And  above  all,  we  should  escape  from  that  which  so 
weakens  the  minister's  influence  to-day,  the  taint  of 
professionalism.  How  many  sermons  are  preached  every 
Sunday  that  have  no  better  apology  for  existence  than 
this :    the  clock  had  struck  eleven,  and  the  minister  must 


ZINZENDORF  281 

get  on  his  legs  and  say  something — anything — for  the 
next  thirty  minutes !  And  this  perfunctory  preaching 
(which  the  congregation  understands  just  as  well  as  the 
minister  does — make  no  mistake  about  that)  is  perhaps 
the  least  evil  of  professionalism.  There  is  the  feeling, 
wide-spread  in  the  community,  and  only  too  well  founded, 
that  a  great  many  men  are  in  the  ministry,  not  because 
God  ever  called  them  to  preach,  but  because  it  is  a  digni- 
fied, eminently  respectable,  and  not  too  difficult  way  of 
making  a  living.  If  the  ministry  could  be  wholly  freed 
of  that  suspicion,  if  like  Paul  at  Corinth  it  could  make 
men  believe  that  it  seeks  them,  not  theirs,  is  it  too  much 
to  say  that  its  moral  power  might  be  doubled  ? 

One  other  word  on  the  missionary  methods  of  the 
Moravians :  they  have  given  considerable  prominence  to 
the  educational  idea  in  missions,  and  have  been  among 
the  most  faithful  disciples  of  Schwartz.  Here,  perhaps, 
they  have  made  their  most  serious  error,  and  especially 
when,  from  motives  of  financial  gain,  they  have  accepted 
government  aid  for  their  schools^ — at  the  price,  neces- 
sarily, of  more  or  less  government  supervision.  In  some 
cases,  therefore,  we  need  not  be  surprised  to  find  that 
their  missionaries  became  little  more  than  school  teachers, 
and  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  took  quite  a  secondary 
place.  The  only  other  error  that  can  be  called  serious  in 
their  missionary  methods  is  a  certain  tendency,  not  so 
marked  of  late  years  as  earlier,  to  overdo  the  community 
principle,  so  as  to  become  narrow,  selfish,  clannish,  ex- 
clusive. This  has  been,  in  some  cases,  a  great  hin- 
drance of  progress,  and  by  nobody  has  this  fact  been  more 
clearly  recognized  or  more  honestly  deplored  thaa  by  tue 
more  enlightened  among  their  own  number. 

There  is  no  chapter  in  the  history  of  Christianity  in 
which  the  finger  of  divine  Providence  can  be  more  plainly 
seen  than  in  the  history  of  the  Moravians.    And  of  all  the 


282  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

noble  men  bred  under  the  pietistic  movement,  there  is 
none  who  surpasses  Zinzendorf.  To  Germany  and  its 
religious  life  he  was  what  John  Wesley  was  to  England. 
So  long  as  Christian  song  continues  in  the  world,  so  long 
will  the  name  of  Zinzendorf  be  gratefully  cherished.  So 
long  as  there  are  Christian  missions,  so  long  will  the 
Unitas  Fratrum  be  honored. 


XV 


CAREY:  THE   MISSIONARY   REVIVAL 
IN   ENGLAND 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Carey's  tract,  An  Enquiry  into  the  Obligations  of  Christians 
to  Use  Means  for  the  Conversion  of  the  Heathens,  was  reprinted 
in  London  in  1891.  The  earliest  biography,  by  his  nephew, 
Eustace  Carey  (Boston,  1836),  was  a  very  poor  performance, 
and  Marshman's  Life  and  Times  of  Carey,  Marshman,  and  Ward 
(two  vols.,  London,  1859;  "popular  edition,"  New  York,  1867), 
though  containing  much  valuable  material,  is  primarily  a  life  of 
Marshman.  The  most  satisfactory  biography  is  that  by  George 
Smith  (London,  1887),  but  the  briefer  sketch  by  Culross  is 
also  well  worth  reading  (London,  1881).  Most  histories  of  mis- 
sions give  adequate  treatment  of  Carey's  work;  for  example, 
Warneck,  pp.  74-144;  History  of  the  Church  Mission  Society, 
I  :  57,  seq.  (three  vols.,  London,  1899).  In  connection  with  the 
life  and  work  of  Carey  the  career  of  Andrew  Fuller  should  by 
all  means  be  studied — biographies  by  his  friend,  John  Ryland 
(London,  1816)  and  his  grandson  (London,  1863)  ;  also  by  his 
son,  in  the  complete  American  edition  of  Fuller's  works  (Phila- 
delphia, 1833).  The  Centenary  Volume  of  the  Baptist  Mission 
Society  (London,  1893)  contains  a  large  amount  of  material  on 
the  results  of  Carey's  work.  For  this  and  succeeding  chapters 
valuable  material  may  be  found  in  Charlotte  M.  Yonge's  Pioneers 
and  Founders  of  the  Missionary  Enterprise  (London,  1874),  and 
Creegan,  Great  Missionaries  of  the  Church  (New  York,  1895). 
The  latest  account  of  Carey's  life  and  labors  is  the  volume  by 
Myers  in  Revell's  "Missionary  Series." 


XV 

CAREY  :  THE  MISSIONARY  REVIVAL  IN  ENGLAND 

ON  the  seventeenth  of  August,  1761,  was  born  in  the 
little  village  of  Paulerspury,  eleven  miles  south  of 
Northampton,  on  the  old  Roman  road  from  London  to 
Chester,  one  who  was  destined  to  be  the  leader  in  one  of 
the  greatest  revolutions  of  modern  times.  It  was  a  famous 
part  of  England  in  which  he  first  saw  the  light ;  that  mid- 
land district  which  was  the  birthplace  of  the  myriad- 
minded  Shakespeare;  that  had  sent  forth  Wiclif,  the 
Morning  Star  of  the  Reformation,  the  judicious  Hooker, 
most  eloquent  theologian  of  the  Church  of  England,  John 
Bunyan,  the  immortal  dreamer,  George  Fox,  founder  of 
the  Society  of  Friends,  and  a  score  of  other  men  of  only 
less  note  in  England's  spiritual  history.  It  was  in  a 
humble  cottage  that  William  Carey  was  born,  yet  his 
family  were  no  common  folk.  An  elder  branch  of  the 
Careys  gave  to  the  kings  of  England  statesmen  and 
soldiers,  scholars  and  bishops,  during  a  period  of  more 
than  two  centuries.  There  had  been  three  peerages  in 
the  family,  and  though  the  father  of  William  Carey  was 
only  a  village  weaver,  he  was  a  kinsman  to  some  of  Eng- 
land's proudest  nobles.  In  addition  to  his  work  at  the 
loom,  the  elder  Carey  was  village  schoolmaster  and 
parish  clerk,  a  man  therefore  held  in  much  respect  in  the 
little  village. 

The  country  about  Paulerspury  is  said  to  be  one  of  the 
most  beautiful  spots  in  all  England.  ''  Its  ooHtic  hills, 
gently  swelling  to  about  seven  hundred  feet,  and  the 
valleys  of  the  many  rivers  which  flow  from  this  central 

285 


286  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

water-shed  west  and  east,  are  covered  with  fat  vegeta- 
tion almost  equally  divided  between  grass  and  corn,  with 
green  crops.  The  many  large  estates  are  rich  in  gardens 
and  orchards,  the  farmers  chiefly  on  small  holdings  are 
famous  for  their  short-horn  and  Leicester  sheep."  In 
the  beauty  of  its  native  flora,  in  skilful  horticulture,  in  the 
perfection  of  its  agriculture,  Northamptonshire  was  and 
is  the  finest  county  in  England,  and  its  beauty  left  an 
indelible  impress  upon  the  responsive  mind  of  young 
Carey. 

As  he  grew  up,  the  boy  manifested  no  special  aptitude 
for  learning,  though  he  was  always  fond  of  reading.  He 
was  not  one  of  those  abnormal  youths  who  amaze  every- 
body by  their  early  precocity  and  their  later  dulness,  but 
developed  slowly.  From  an  early  age  he  showed  a  great 
interest  in  nature,  and  he  fortunately  had  an  uncle,  a 
gardener  in  the  same  village,  who  was  both  able  and  will- 
ing to  give  him  lessons  in  botany  and  horticulture.  He 
was  soon  given  as  a  task  the  keeping  of  his  father's 
garden,  and  it  speedily  gained  the  repute  of  being  the  best 
in  the  neighborhood.  His  fondness  for  flowers  and  plants 
he  never  lost,  and  this  early  training  had  much  to  do,  not 
only  with  his  recreations  in  later  years,  but  with  one  of 
his  most  useful  lines  of  labor.  It  would  probably  have 
been  his  lot  to  become  a  gardener,  like  his  uncle,  except 
that  he  was  afflicted  in  youth  with  some  skin  disease  that 
made  his  face  and  hands  abnormally  sensitive  to  ex- 
posure to  the  sun.  Attempts  to  work  in  the  field  during 
summer  were  invariably  followed  by  great  distress  at 
night;  and  finally,  at  the  age  of  sixteen,  it  was  obvious 
that  some  indoor  occupation  must  be  found  for  him,  and 
his  father  apprenticed  him  to  a  shoemaker  in  the  hamlet 
of  Hackleton,  nine  miles  distant  from  his  home. 

Since  it  has  been  said  that  his  father  was  parish  clerk, 
it  will  be  correctly  inferred  that  Carey  was  brought  up 


CAREY  287 

in  the  Church  of  England.  He  had  probably  heard  of 
Dissenters  before,  but  not  until  he  left  home  did  he  come 
into  close  contact  with  any.  The  senior  apprentice  of  his 
Hackleton  master  was  a  Dissenter,  and  naturally  dis- 
putes arose  in  the  shop  upon  religious  subjects.  Of  these 
discussions,  Carey  said  in  after  years : 

I  had  always  looked  upon  Dissenters  with  contempt.  I  had, 
moreover,  a  share  of  pride  sufficient  for  a  thousand  times  my 
knowledge.  I  therefore  always  scorned  to  have  the  worst  of  an 
argument,  and  the  last  word  was  assuredly  mine.  I  also  made 
up  in  positive  assertion  what  was  wanting  in  argument,  and  gen- 
erally came  off  with  triumph.  But  I  was  often  convinced  after- 
wards that,  although  I  had  the  last  word,  my  antagonists  had  the 
better  of  the  argument,  and  on  that  account  felt  a  growing 
uneasiness,  and  stings  of  conscience  gradually  increasing. 

George  Fox  was  only  nineteen  when,  after  eight  years 
of  service  with  a  shoemaker  in  Drayton,  not  far  from 
where  Carey  worked,  he  heard  the  voice  from  heaven 
that  sent  him  forth  to  preach  until  the  Friends  became  a 
power  in  England.  The  shoemaker's  bench  at  Hackleton 
was  educating  an  even  greater  man  for  a  still  larger 
work.  Young  Carey  was  at  this  time,  as  he  frankly  con- 
fessed in  later  years,  much  given  to  lying,  swearing,  and 
other  sins.  He  was  nevertheless  very  self-righteous.  But 
about  the  time  he  was  eighteen  years  of  age  he  came  to 
a  conciousness  of  his  true  condition;  his  sins  were  dis- 
closed to  him  in  all  their  hideousness,  and  to  his  spiritual 
vision,  purged  of  self,  there  appeared  the  Crucified  One — 
to  his  spiritual  intelligence  was  revealed  the  Word  of  God. 
The  epiphany  of  Christ  changed  Paul,  the  self-righteous 
Pharisee,  into  the  apostle  to  the  Gentiles;  it  changed 
Carey,  a  later  Pharisee  not  less  self-righteous,  into  the 
apostle  to  the  Hindus. 

But  not  all  at  once.  Carey  had  found  the  peace  that 
passeth  understanding,  but  his  mind  was  not  at  rest  as 


288  CHRISTIAN   EPOCH-MAKERS 

regards  the  doctrines  of  the  Bible.  He  was  troubled, 
inquisitive,  anxious,  unsatisfied.  He  had  no  teacher  or 
guide  and  was  compelled  painfully  to  piece  together  the 
teachings  of  Scripture,  as  he  was  able  to  understand 
them,  into  something  like  the  coherence  and  order  of  a 
theological  system.  While  thus  studying,  somewhat  sud- 
denly, it  would  seem,  he  embraced  Baptist  views,  not  as 
the  result  of  any  human  teaching,  but  through  his  study 
of  the  Bible.  He  records  that  he  cannot  recollect  having 
read  anything  on  the  subject  but  the  Scriptures,  at  the 
time  that  he  applied  to  John  Ryland,  senior,  for  baptism. 
He  was  turned  over  to  the  junior  Ryland,  who  duly  exam- 
ined him  and  became  satisfied  of  his  conversion  and 
sound  views ;  and  accordingly  he  was  baptized  on  pro- 
fession of  his  faith  in  the  river  Nen,  at  Northampton, 
October  5,  1783.  "  This  day  baptized  a  poor  journey- 
man shoemaker,"  is  the  matter-of-fact  entry  in  the  min- 
ister's diary.  Doctor  Ryland  little  imagined  that  in  future 
years  that  day  would  stand  out  as  the  greatest  day  of  his 
life.  How  little  any  of  us  know  until  long  afterward 
when  the  really  great  moments  of  our  lives  come  to  us. 
Before  nine  years  had  elapsed  this  poor  journeyman  shoe- 
maker was  to  be  made  by  the  providence  of  God  leader 
in  the  greatest  missionary  movement  of  the  ages.  The 
sermon  preached  that  morning  in  the  Baptist  church  of 
Northampton  had  as  its  text,  "  Many  first  shall  be  last, 
and  the  last  first  " ;  and  if  Doctor  Ryland  could  have  fore- 
seen what  was  to  come  to  pass,  and  had  searched  the 
Scriptures  diligently,  he  could  have  found  no  words  more 
appropriate,  more  subtly  prophetic. 

It  was  not  long  before  some  of  his  friends  wished  the 
young  convert  to  exercise  his  gifts  by  speaking  to  a  few 
people  in  a  house  licensed  for  religious  purposes  at  Pury. 
His  speaking  was  most  acceptable,  and  from  this  time 
on  he  preached  frequently.    At  the  same  time  he  was  a 


CAREY  289 

diligent  student,  having  formed  the  habit  of  close  study 
from  the  time  he  began  his  apprenticeship.  At  the  age 
of  twenty  he  set  up  a  stall  for  himself  at  Moulton,  and 
soon  after  married.  As  he  labored  at  his  bench  he 
always  kept  a  book  at  his  side,  and  studied  as  he  wrought. 
He  had  a  great  native  facility  in  the  acquisition  of  lan- 
guage, which  by  cultivation  he  increased  until  it  became 
a  really  marvelous  gift.  In  seven  years  of  such  study 
at  his  bench  he  learned  enough  of  Latin,  Greek,  Hebrew, 
French,  and  Dutch  to  read  books  easily  in  all  these  lan- 
guages, and  that  with  scarcely  any  instruction. 

Men  who  have  enjoyed  the  advantages  of  college  and 
university  training  in  the  languages  sometimes  permit 
themselves  to  sneer  at  the  scholarship  of  men  self-taught 
like  Carey,  but  they  are  singularly  blind  not  to  perceive 
that  it  is  rather  the  Careys  who,  but  for  their  forbear- 
ance, might  sneer  at  them.  For  the  college  method  of 
teaching  languages  is  radically  wrong,  while  the  self- 
taught  man  almost  always  hits  upon  the  right  method. 
He  learns  to  read  and  write  a  foreign  tongue  as  if  it  were 
his  own,  never  troubling  himself  with  the  niceties  of  phil- 
ology and  the  refinements  of  grammar;  while  the  col- 
lege graduate,  knowing  ten  times  as  much  about  the 
science  of  language,  after  five  to  seven  years'  constant 
study  of  Greek  and  Latin  cannot  read  a  page  of  the  sim- 
plest prose  without  painful  toil  with  the  dictionary,  and 
as  for  composing  a  letter  or  essay  in  these  languages, 
he  could  as  easily  fly.  Not  one  college  graduate  in  a  hun-. 
dred  ever  learns  enough  of  the  tongues  in  which  Homer 
and  Horace  wrote  to  read  the  classics  with  pleasure  and 
to  feel  their  literary  charm.  But  this  is  precisely  what 
the  Careys  do  learn — they  study  a  language  for  no  other 
purpose  than  to  be  able  to  read  its  literature.  They,  and 
not  those  who  suppose  themselves  to  be  scholars  because 
they  know  grammar  and  philology,  are  the  true  human- 

T 


290  CHRISTIAN   EPOCH-MAKERS 

ists  of  to-day.  When  will  the  teacher  arise  who  will  lead 
the  way  in  a  greatly  needed  educational  reform,  and 
where  is  the  college  or  university  that  will  listen  to  him 
and  give  him  a  fair  field  when  he  comes  ? 

It  was  not  always  a  book  in  a  foreign  tongue  that  Carey 
kept  thus  at  his  side.  One  of  the  works  that  he  read  with 
avidity  in  this  way  was  Captain  Cook's  account  of  his 
voyage  around  the  world.  This  first  seems  to  have  sug- 
gested the  religious  destitution  of  the  heathen,  and  the 
duty  of  Christians  to  give  them  the  gospel.  Once  the 
idea  became  lodged  in  a  mind  like  this,  it  could  not  fail 
to  germinate  and  wax  great,  until  it  should  become  the 
controling  principle  of  his  life. 

After  a  time  a  small  Baptist  church  at  Moulton  invited 
Carey  to  preach  to  them.  They  could  offer  him  only  ten 
pounds  a  year,  supplemented  by  five  pounds  from  a  Lon- 
don fund.  This  miserable  salary  he  eked  out  by  keeping 
a  school,  or  by  laboring  at  his  trade,  but  his  total  income 
was  said  never  to  have  exceeded  thirty-six  pounds  a 
year  while  he  lived  at  Moulton.  Many  pastors  and  mis- 
sionaries to-day  are  disgracefully  underpaid,  but  few  are 
compelled  to  live  upon  such  a  pittance  as  this.  While 
teaching  geography  to  the  children  in  his  school,  Carey's 
idea  of  the  need  of  the  heathen  and  the  missionary  call- 
ing of  English  Christians  was  deepened  and  strengthened. 
At  length  the  Moulton  Baptists  formally  called  him  to 
become  their  pastor,  and  he  was  ordained  to  the  min- 
istry August  ID,  1786,  Andrew  Fuller  preaching  the 
sermon  on  that  occasion. 

From  this  time  on,  Carey  began  to  communicate  to 
others  his  thoughts  regarding  the  missionary  enterprise, 
but  he  met  with  little  encouragement.  English  Baptists 
were  poor,  and  such  an  undertaking  did  not  appear  pos- 
sible to  them.  It  is  narrated  that,  on  one  occasion,  when 
Carey  propounded  his  ideas,  asking  whether  the  com- 


CAREY  291 

mand  given  to  the  apostles  to  teach  all  nations  was  not 
obligatory  on  all  succeeding  ministers  to  the  end  of  the 
world,  seeing  that  the  accompanying  promise  was  of 
equal  extent,  the  chairman  of  the  meeting  shouted  out 
the  rebuke :  "  You  are  a  miserable  enthusiast  for  asking 
such  a  question.  Certainly  nothing  can  be  done  before 
another  Pentecost,  when  an  effusion  of  miraculous  gifts, 
including  the  gift  of  tongues,  will  give  effect  to  the  com- 
mission of  Christ  as  at  first."  A  similar  story  is  told,  and 
is  apparently  authentic,  that  when  Carey  attempted  to 
enlist  the  Northampton  Association  in  his  beloved  mis- 
sionary plan,  Doctor  Ryland  said  to  him  sternly :  "  Sit 
down,  young  man ;  when  the  Lord  gets  ready  to  convert 
the  heathen,  he  will  do  it  without  your  help  or  mine." 
Such  was  the  paralyzing  effect  of  the  hyper-Calvinism 
that  prevailed  among  the  English  Baptists  at  this  time. 
But  Carey  did  not  consider  the  possibilities.  He  looked 
only  at  the  question  of  duty.  The  Duke  of  Wellington 
once  replied  to  a  young  clergyman  who  asked  if  it  were 
not  useless  to  preach  the  gospel  to  the  Hindus :  "  With 
that  you  have  nothing  to  do.  Look  to  your  marching 
orders,  '  Go,  preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature.'  "  The 
soldier  was  right,  and  the  preacher  stood  justly  rebuked. 
Finally,  at  the  meeting  of  the  Association  at  Notting- 
ham, May  30,  1792,  Carey  obtained  a  hearing.  He  had 
already  published  his  tract,  called  "An  Inquiry  Into  the 
Obligations  of  Christians  to  Use  Means  for  the  Conver- 
sion of  the  Heathens,"  but  it  had  no  very  large  circulation, 
and  had  not  produced  much  effect.  He  was  the  preacher 
of  the  occasion,  and  chose  as  his  text  Isa.  54 : 2,  3 — the 
vision  of  the  widowed  Israel's  tent  stretching  forth  until 
her  children  inhabited  the  nations  and  peopled  the  deso- 
late cities — and  announced  as  the  heads  of  his  discourse, 
"  Expect  great  things  from  God ;  attempt  great  things 
for  God."    It  was  one  of  those  days  on  which  the  fate  of 


2^J2  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

great  religious  bodies  turns.  The  discourse  roused  some 
who  Hstened  to  a  new  idea  of  their  responsibility  for  the 
fufilment  of  the  Great  Commission,  but  even  Fuller  was 
afraid  that  the  time  had  not  yet  come  to  attempt  anything 
practical,  and  the  ministers  were  about  leaving  the  meet- 
ing, when  Carey  seized  Fuller's  arm  and  exclaimed, 
"And  are  you  after  all  going  again  to  do  nothing?"  In 
response  to  his  importunity,  this  minute  was  finally  ^ 
passed :  "  That  a  plan  be  prepared  against  the  next  min- 
ister's meeting  at  Kettering,  for  forming  a  Baptist 
society  for  propagating  the  gospel  among  the  heathen." 

During  the  next  four  months  the  fire  burned  in  a  few 
hearts,  and  when  the  ministers  met  at  Kettering,  October 
7,  they  formed  "  The  Particular  Baptist  Society  for 
Propagating  the  Gospel  Among  the  Heathen."  Its  con- 
stituent members  were  twelve,  and  out  of  their  poverty 
they  contributed  to  the  treasury  some  thirteen  pounds  two 
shillings  and  six  pence.  What  a  sum  with  which  to  begin 
the  evangelization  of  the  world!  The  history  of  the 
society  is  an  instructive  commentary  on  the  Scripture, 
"  For  who  hath  despised  the  day  of  small  things  ?  "  The 
London  churches,  the  richer  churches  everywhere,  and  the 
richer  men  among  the  Baptists,  stood  aloof  from  the  work 
during  its  early  years  of  struggle.  It  was  the  poorer 
churches  and  ministers  that  finally  raised  money  enough 
to  send  out,  in  June,  1793,  the  first  missionaries  to  India 
— William  Carey  and  John  Thomas.  The  latter  was  a 
surgeon  who  had  already  had  some  experience  in  India 
as  a  medical  missionary. 

And  just  here  a  caution  to  Baptists:  Do  not  be  guilty 
of  making  the  claim  that  the  Baptists  were  the  pioneers 
among  modern  Christians  in  the  work  of  foreign  mis- 
sions. Let  me  briefly  recapitulate  facts  fully  brought  out 
in  previous  chapters.  More  than  fifty  years  before  Carey 
was  born,  Ziegenbalg,  the  Dane,  went  to  India  and  began 


CAREY  293 

a  mission  among  the  Tamils,  founding  Christian  schools, 
gathering  converts,  and  translating  the  Scriptures  into 
the  vernacular.  Forty  years  before  Carey  sailed  for 
India,  Schwartz,  the  Prussian,  became  Ziegenbalg's  suc- 
cessor and  carried  forward  the  work.  Thirty  years 
before  Carey's  birth,  Moravian  missionaries  set  out  to 
preach  the  gospel  among  the  Negroes  of  St.  Thomas, 
the  Indians  of  the  commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania,  and 
the  Eskimos  of  Greenland.  And  while  the  Lutheran  mis- 
sions were  the  result  of  the  devotion  of  a  few  individuals, 
sporadic  cases  of  interest  in  Christianizing  the  heathen, 
those  of  the  Moravians  were  the  act  of  their  church  as  a 
whole — a  church  that  was  marvelously  preserved  by  the 
providence  of  God  that  it  might  thus  be  an  example  to 
the  rest  of  Christendom  of  devotion  to  the  Great  Commis- 
sion; a  church  that  regards  its  mission  in  the  world  as 
nothing  else  and  nothing  less  than  fulfilment  of  the  com- 
mand, "  Go  ye  and  disciple  all  the  nations  " ;  a  church  in 
which  one  member  in  every  sixty  actually  becomes  a  mis- 
sionary, as  against  one  in  thirty-five  hundred  among  the 
other  evangelical  churches. 

Why  then,  if  these  things  are  so,  should  we  or  any 
others  especially  honor  William  Carey?  Why  should  his 
services  to  the  missionary  cause  be  exalted  above  those  of 
any  other  devoted  missionary?  Because,  though  he  was 
not  absolutely  the  first  in  modern  times  to  engage  in  this 
work,  he  became,  in  the  good  providence  of  God,  the 
means  of  arousing  new  interest  in  the  missionary  cause 
and  of  greatly  extending  it.  His  predecessors  had  been 
comparatively  unknown  to  the  greater  part  of  Europe; 
they  had  made  relatively  little  impression  on  the  Christian 
sentiment  of  the  world.  What  we  call  secular  history 
presents  a  parallel  case.  Long  before  Columbus,  hardy 
Norsemen  had  made  voyages  on  our  Atlantic  coast,  and 
their  discoveries  had  been  embalmed  in  the  sagas  of  their 


294  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

people.  But  to  the  rest  of  the  world  this  fact  was  un- 
known; even  they  did  not  appreciate  the  significance  of 
what  they  had  found.  Columbus  was  the  real  discoverer 
of  the  new  world,  though  not  its  first  discoverer,  and  it 
is  from  his  voyages  that  the  settlement  of  this  continent 
by  Europeans  is  properly  dated.  So,  from  the  work  of 
Carey,  though  he  was  not  the  first  of  modern  missionaries, 
from  the  organization  of  the  Baptist  Missionary  Society, 
though  it  was  not  the  first  missionary  organization  of 
modern  times,  dates  a  conception  of  the  duty  of  Chris- 
tians so  greatly  enlarged,  an  increase  of  missionary  activ- 
ity so  vast,  that  as  we  properly  call  Columbus  the  dis- 
coverer of  America,  we  may  with  equal  propriety  call 
Carey  the  Father  of  Modern  Missions. 

It  is  difficult  now  to  comprehend  the  bitterness  of  the 
opposition  offered  by  the  British  East  India  Company 
and  its  officials  to  the  work  of  Carey  and  his  associates. 
Carey  himself  could  only  reside  in  British  India  by  pro- 
curing a  license  as  an  indigo  planter,  and  Doctor  Thomas 
was  tolerated  only  as  a  physician,  not  as  a  missionary. 
Even  while  he  supported  himself  as  a  planter,  Carey  was 
so  greatly  harassed  in  his  missionary  work  that  he  finally 
decided  to  leave  the  English  flag  and  begin  a  new  mission 
in  Serampore,  under  the  protection  of  the  Danish  govern- 
ment. Here  he  continued  for  some  years  his  work  of 
translating  and  printing  the  Scriptures.  When  Lord 
Wellesley  founded  Fort  William  College,  at  Calcutta,  in 
1801,  Carey  proved  to  be  the  only  European  discoverable 
who  was  fitted  to  hold  the  chair  of  Bengali,  and  so  he 
was  offered  the  position,  which  he  held  thenceforth  until r*^ 
1830.  This  was  a  quasi  approval  of  his  missionary  work 
by  the  government,  and  from  this  time  on  his  associates 
also  met  with  less  opposition. 

The  English  Baptists  were  stimulated  by  the  reports 
that  reached  them  from  India  to  send  out  other  laborers, 


CAREY  295 

and  the  mission  became  a  fruitful  one.  Nor  was  this 
stimulating  influence  by  any  means  confined  to  his  own 
brethren.  The  Church  of  England  was  shamed  into 
doing  something  by  the  activity  of  these  Dissenters.  The 
Religious  Tract  Society  (1797)  and  the  British  and  For- 
eign Bible  Society  (1804)  were  formed  to  circulate  the 
Bible  and  Christian  literature  in  all  lands  and  tongues. 
The  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  (1701), 
which  had  done  something  for  the  English  people  in  the 
colonies — what  we  should  now  call  distinctively  home 
mission  work — greatly  extended  its  operations;  and  the 
London  Missionary  Society  and  the  Church  Missionary 
Society  were  founded,  and  began  operations  in  the  Fiji 
Islands  and  in  Africa.  Missionary  societies  in  the  Neth- 
erlands and  in  Germany  followed  quickly,  while  the  two 
oldest  American  societies  may  also  be  directly  traced  to 
the  effect  of  Carey's  labors.  In  short,  to  trace  out  the 
lines  of  his  influence  would  be  to  write  the  history  of 
Christian  missions  during  the  nineteenth  century — the 
greatest  missionary  epoch  since  the  age  of  the  apostles. 

For  other  biographical  details,  for  fuller  historical 
chronicles  of  Carey  and  the  Indian  mission,  I  must  there- 
fore refer  to  books  easy  of  access,  and  especially  to  the 
most  excellent  "  Life  of  Carey,"  by  Dr.  George  Smith. 
What  I  should  like  to  do,  in  the  remaining  space,  is  to 
summarize  the  chief  facts  about  Carey's  services  in  such 
a  way  that  we  may  all  gain  a  better  idea  of  the  total  sum 
of  his  influence,  and  rightly  estimate  the  significance  of 
his  life  and  work,  not  only  for  Christian  missions,  but  for 
India. 

In  the  first  place,  then,  I  direct  attention  to  his  work  of 
giving  the  Scriptures  to  the  people  of  India.  The  facts 
would'  be  simply  incredible,  if  they  were  not  amply  at- 
tested. I  quote  first  of  all  the  words  of  Robert  Southey, 
in  the  ''  Quarterly  Review,"  in  reply  to  the  sneers  and 


296  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

jibes  (attributed  to  the  Rev.  Sydney  Smith) ^  at  the  "  con- 
secrated cobblers  "  and  their  efforts  to  convert  the  learned 
Brahmins : 

Nothing  can  be  more  unfair  than  the  manner  in  which  the 
scoffers  and  alarmists  have  represented  the  missionaries.  We 
who  have  thus  vindicated  them  are  neither  blind  to  what  is  er- 
roneous in  their  doctrine  or  ludicrous  in  their  phraseology;  but 
the  anti-missionaries  cull  out  from  their  journals  and  letters  all 
that  is  ridiculous,  sectarian,  and  trifling ;  call  them  fools,  madmen, 
tinkers,  Calvinists,  and  schismatics;  and  keep  out  of  sight  their 
love  of  man  and  their  zeal  for  God,  their  self-devotement,  their 
indefatigable  industry,  and  their  unequaled  learning.  These  low- 
born and  low-bred  mechanics  have  translated  the  whole  Bible 
into  Bengali,  and  have  by  this  time  printed  it.  They  are  printing 
the  New  Testament  in  Sanskrit,  the  Orissa,  Mahratta,  Hindu- 
stan, and  Guzarat,  and  translating  it  into  Persic,  Telinga,  Kar- 
nata,  Chinese,  the  sacred  languages  of  the  Sikhs,  and  of  the 
Burmans,  and  in  four  of  these  languages  they  are  going  on  with 
the  Bible.  Extraordinary  as  this  is,  it  will  appear  more  so  when 
it  is  remembered  that  of  these  men  one  was  originally  a  shoe- 
maker, another  a  printer  of  Hull,  and  a  third  a  master  of  a 
charity  school  at  Bristol.  Only  fourteen  years  have  elapsed  since 
Thomas  and  Carey  set  foot  in  India,  and  in  that  time  have 
these  missionaries  acquired  this  gift  of  tongues ;  in  fourteen  years 
these  low-born,  low-bred  mechanics  have  done  more  towards 
spreading  the  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures  among  the  heathen 
than  has  been  accomplished,  or  even  attempted,  by  all  the  princes 
and  potentates  of  the  world,  and  all  the  universities  and  estab- 
lishments into  the  bargain.  Do  not  think  to  supersede  the  Baptist 
missionaries  till  you  can  provide  from  your  own  church  such 
men  as  these,  and,  it  may  be  added,  such  women  as  their  wives. 

But  even  this  eloquent  and  spirited  vindication  of 
Carey  and  his  fellows  fails  to  do  them  justice,  partly 

1  Smith's  article  is  in  the  "  Edinburgh  Review,"  Vol.  12,  p.  151,  and  may 
also  be  found  in  his  collected  essays.  Southey's  article,  virtually  a  reply, 
and  a  vindication  of  the  Baptist  missionaries,  appeared  in  the  first  number 
of  the  "  Quarterly  Review,"  for  April,  1809.  Smith's  hostile  attitude 
toward  the  missionaries  was  probably  due  to  the  fact  that  his  brother, 
"  Bobus  "  Smith,  was  Advocate-general  of  India  at  the  time  of  the  Carey 
mission  and,  with  other  officials,  was  bitterly  opposed  to  the  whole 
enterprise. 


CAREY  297 

because  Southey  did  not  know  all  the  facts,  partly  be- 
cause he  wrote  before  their  work  had  been  completed. 
Between  1801  and  1822,  thirty-six  translations  of  the 
Scriptures,  in  whole  or  in  part,  were  made  and  edited  by 
Carey  at  Serampore,  who  also  saw  them  all  through  the 
press.  Only  one  who  has  himself  had  experience,  as 
editor  or  author,  can  understand  the  amount  of  labor  in- 
volved in  merely  carrying  these  books  through  the  press, 
to  say  nothing  of  the  work  of  translation.  Of  these 
thirty-six  versions,  six  were  complete  translations  of  the 
Bible,  twenty-three  more  were  translations  of  the  entire 
New  Testament,  and  to  six  of  these  some  Old  Testament 
books  were  added  later.  In  four  cases,  only  the  Gospels 
were  translated  in  whole  or  in  part. 

In  the  making  of  every  one  of  these  versions,  Carey 
had  some  share;  several  of  them  he  made  throughout; 
in  other  cases  he  did  only  part  of  the  work,  but  revised 
the  whole.  Eight  other  versions  were  edited  and  printed 
by  him  during  this  period,  though  he  contributed  nothing 
to  the  translation.  In  all  he  was  directly  concerned  in 
the  printing  of  forty-two  distinct  translations.  Four  at 
least  of  these — the  Bengali,  Hindu,  Marathi,  and  Sanskrit 
— were  his  exclusive  work,  from  title-page  to  colophon. 
Would  you  form  some  estimate  of  the  labor  involved? 
Then  take  your  Hebrew  Bible  or  Greek  Testament  some 
day  and  translate  a  chapter  from  the  book  least  familiar 
to  you,  without  any  help  from  an  English  version,  mul- 
tiply this  labor  by  eleven  hundred  and  eighty-nine,  and 
you  will  have  gained  some  faint  idea  of  the  labor  involved 
in  making  only  one  of  these  versions.  It  will  be  a  very 
faint  idea  indeed,  for  you  can  have  the  aid  of  the  best 
lexicons  and  grammars  and  commentaries,  and  you  will 
be  making  the  translation  in  your  mother  tongue.  Sup- 
pose yourself  without  these  helps,  or  with  very  inferior 
works  such  as  Carey  had  at  his  command  a  century  ago, 


298  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

since  when  the  sciences  of  biblical  lexicography  and  bibli- 
cal exegesis  have  been  almost  created,  certainly  have  been 
recreated;  and  also  suppose  yourself  making  the  trans- 
lation into  a  foreign  tongue,  recently  and  imperfectly 
acquired  by  you,  with  no  grammars  or  dictionaries  of  that 
language  save  what  you  have  yourself  made — and  then 
you  will  have  a  better  idea  of  the  work  Carey  had  to  per- 
form. The  mythical  labors  of  Hercules  are  a  feather- 
weight compared  to  Carey's  actual  labors.  Well  does  he 
deserve  the  title  that  has  been  bestowed  on  him,  the  Wic- 
lif  of  India.  Before  he  died,  through  his  agency,  the 
Scriptures  had  been  given  in  their  own  language  to  three 
hundred  and  thirty  million  people,  one-third  of  the  entire 
population  of  the  globe;  and  two  hundred  and  twelve 
thousand  copies  of  these  versions  had  been  issued  from 
the  Serampore  presses.  Surely,  it  has  been  seldom  given 
to  any  man  to  do  a  greater  work  than  this,  one  more  far- 
reaching  in  its  consequences,  more  lasting  in  its  results. 
But  this  is  only  a  part  of  Carey's  services  to  India  and 
to  the  world.  He  was  one  of  the  great  philanthropists. 
His  name  should  forever  rank  with  that  of  Howard,  who 
preached  humanity  to  those  in  prison ;  with  those  of  Wil- 
berforce  and  Garrison,  who  conducted  the  peaceful  cru- 
sade against  slavery  until  both  England  and  America 
struck  off  the  shackles  from  the  Negro ;  with  that  of  Flor- 
ence Nightingale,  who  led  the  way  in  that  effort  to  lessen 
the  horrors  of  war,  which  has  culminated  in  the  interna- 
tional organization  of  the  Red  Cross.  The  glory  of  his 
other  achievements  has  obscured  this  work  of  Carey's, 
and  few  know  anything  of  it.  When  he  went  to  India  he 
found  Hinduism  at  its  worst,  and  the  people  most  help- 
less in  its  degrading  bondage.  It  was  he  that  did  more 
than  any  one  man  to  set  the  people  free.  To  his  constant 
writing  and  agitation  was  due  the  gradual  formation  of  a 
public  sentiment,  both  in  India  and  in  England,  which 


CAREY  299 

compelled  the  government  at  length  to  make  unlawful 
infanticide,  voluntary  drowning  and  Sati,  or  the  burning 
of  widows  with  the  bodies  of  their  husbands.  Yet  Brit- 
ish authorities  slowly  and  most  reluctantly  suppressed 
these  crimes  against  humanity,  moving  only  as  they  were 
compelled  to  act  by  an  irresistible  force  of  enlightened 
Christian  sentiment.  The  creation  of  that  sentiment  was 
Carey's  work.  Not  that  he,  single-handed  and  alone  won| 
the  victory,  but  he  was  the  first  prophet  of  the  new  Chris- 
tian India,  he  was  the  pioneer  in  all  early  reforms,  he 
fought  the  battle  through  and  led  the  way  to  victory. 
The  people  of  India  owe  the  relative  amelioration  of  their 
lot,  as  compared  with  a  century  ago,  to  William  Carey. 
If  any  man  deserves  the  utmost  gratitude  and  reverence 
short  of  idolatry  that  they  can  give  to  a  mortal  like  them- 
selves, it  is  he,  their  liberator  from  a  bondage  worse  than 
death. 

But  Carey  did  more  than  this  for  humanity,  and  for 
India.  He  was  a  great  educator.  He  laid  the  founda- 
tions of  the  educational  system  that  has  done  so  much 
already,  and  will  do  yet  more  toward  the  elevation  of  the 
native  races  in  India.  I  have  no  space  to  enlarge  upon 
this  as  it  deserves.  He  was  the  greatest  Orientalist  of 
his  time,  and  did  more  to  promote  sound  scholarship  in 
that  department  of  learning,  and  to  make  possible  the 
great  progress  of  European  scholars  In  the  study  of  the 
sacred  books  of  the  East,  and  of  comparative  religion, 
than  any  other  one  man.  But  one  other  name  is  worthy 
of  mention  in  the  same  class,  that  of  Sir  William  Jones, 
and  Carey  was  the  greater  scholar  of  the  two.  No  suc- 
cessor has  equaled  him  in  learning,  none  has  surpassed 
him  in  breadth.  The  poor  village  cobbler,  schoolmaster, 
preacher,  became  a  man  wdiom  all  the  learned  societies  of 
Europe  delighted  to  honor,  a  scholar  held  in  lasting  and 
grateful  remembrance  by  them. 


300  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

In  still  another  department  of  science  Carey  did  useful 
pioneer  work.  His  early  taste  for  gardening  and  flowers 
has  been  noted.  In  later  years  this  led  him  to  become 
not  only  an  erudite,  but  an  expert  botanist.  From  the 
first  he  turned  his  studies  to  practical  account.  He  sent 
to  England  for  seeds  and  tools,  by  practical  example  and 
instruction  introduced  improved  methods  of  culture, 
naturalized  all  kinds  of  fruits  and  vegetables  that  would 
grow  in  the  soil  and  climate  of  India ;  as  well  as  imported 
from  other  tropical  climates  trees  and  plants  not  found 
in  Hindustan.  An  experimental  garden  of  five  acres  at 
Serampore  was  his  special  delight,  and  almost  equally 
a  source  of  pleasure  to  his  friends  and  visitors.  In  this 
little  paradise  he  had  specimens  from  all  parts  of  the 
world,  of  everything  that  could  be  coaxed  to  live  there; 
and  many  practical  results  followed  his  experiments  in 
horticulture.  He  had  few  deeper  sorrows  in  all  his  life 
than  the  almost  total  destruction  of  his  beloved  garden, 
during  a  flood  of  1823.  Through  his  influence  a  horticul- 
tural society  was  established  in  India,  and  many  valuable 
reforms  in  agricultural  methods  were  introduced  through 
this  agency — reforms  that  greatly  increased  the  quality 
and  quantity  of  the  crops  grown,  of  such  staples  as 
indigo,  wheat,  and  sugar-cane.  The  possibility  of  better- 
ing the  climate  of  India  by  the  cultivation  of  timber  was 
first  suggested  by  him,  and  scientific  forestry  was  finally 
established  largely  through  his  efforts.  Of  late  years  the 
government  of  India  has  taken  up  this  work  in  many 
parts  of  the  country,  with  great  vigor  and  considerable 
success,  thus  furnishing  the  strongest  possible  testimonial 
to  the  value  of  Carey's  pioneer  labors. 

A  recent  historian  of  missions  thus  sums  up  the  results 
of  this  missionary  and  philanthropic  pioneering  of  Carey 
and  his  fellows,  in  the  first  third  of  the  nineteenth 
century : 


CAREY 


301 


The  first  complete  or  partial  translation  of  the  Bible  printed  in 
forty  languages  or  dialects  of  India,  China,  Central  Asia,  and 
other  neighboring  lands,  at  a  cost  of  eighty  thousand  one  hun- 
dred and  forty-three  pounds ;  the  first  prose  work  and  vernacular 
newspaper  in  Bengali,  the  language  of  seventy  million  human 
beings;  the  first  printing-press  on  an  organized  scale,  paper-mill, 
and  steam  engine  seen  in  India ;  the  first  Christian  primary  school 
in  North  India;  the  first  efforts  to  educate  native  girls  and 
women ;  the  first  college  to  train  native  ministers  and  Christianize 
native  Hindus ;  the  first  Hindu  Protestant  convert ;  the  first  medi-* 
cal  mission,  of  which  that  convert  was,  to  some  extent,  the  fruit ; 
the  establishment  and  maintenance  of  at  least  thirty  separate 
large  mission  stations;  the  first  botanic  garden  and  society  for 
the  improvement  of  agriculture  and  horticuhure  in  India;  the 
first  translation  into  English  of  the  great  Sanskrit  epics. 

Fifty  years  after  Carey's  death  the  Protestant  native 
churches  of  India  numbered  half  a  million  souls,  and  they 
are  increasing  at  the  rate  of  eighty-six  per  cent,  every 
decade.  And  all  this  was,  under  God,  due  to  the  conse- 
crated zeal  of  a  single  man.  Are  we  not  justified  in 
ranking  him  among  the  greatest  in  the  history  of 
Christianity  ? 

The  more  one  studies  the  Indian  career  of  Carey,  the 
more  he  will  be  impressed  with  the  many-sidedness  of  the 
man,  and  the  higher  will  he  be  likely  to  rate  one  capable 
of  doing  so  m.any  things,  and  doing  them  all  so  super- 
latively well.  He  was  modest  and  unassuming  always, 
and  his  real  greatness  was  not  half  comprehended  by  the 
men  of  his  own  or  the  succeeding  generation.  They  saw 
in  him  only  the  missionary,  or  possibly  also  the  translator 
of  the  Scriptures ;  a  few  scholars  saw  in  him  the  learned 
pundit,  the  great  Orientalist;  but  that  he  was,  of  all  the 
men  England  ever  sent  to  her  Indian  domains,  the  great- 
est benefactor  of  the  Hindu  race,  we  are  just  beginning 
dimly  to  appreciate.  We  have  long  enough  bowed  down 
to  brute  force,  honored  great  titles,  and  shouted  acclaim 
to  the  soldier  with  his  cannons. 


302  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

Great  captains,  with  their  guns  and  drums, 
Disturb  our  judgment  for  the  hour, 
But  at  last  silence  comes. 

Let  us  remove  Clive  and  Havelock  and  Campbell  from 
their  ill-deserved  pedestals,  as  the  makers  and  saviors  of 
India,  and  place  there  her  real  hero,  the  "  consecrated 
cobbler  "  of  Northamptonshire,  William  Carey. 


XVI 

HENRY   MARTYN: 

THE   FIRST   MODERN    MISSIONARY 

TO  THE   MOHAMMEDANS 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

The  chief  sources  for  Martyn's  life  are  his  Journals  and  Let- 
ters, edited  by  Samuel  Wilberforce  (New  York,  1851)  ;  Jeffery, 
Two  Sets  of  the  Unpublished  Letters  of  the  Rev.  Henry  Martyn 
(two  vols.,  London,  1883),  and  Extracts  from  the  Religious  Diary 
of  Miss  L.  Grenfell  (London,  1890) ;  Twenty  Sermons  by  the 
late  Rev.  Henry  Martyn  (4th  ed.,  London,  1822)  ;  Five  Sermons 
by  the  late  Rev.  Henry  Martyn  (London,  1862).  The  best  biog- 
raphy is  that  of  George  Smith  (London,  n.  d.),  but  Sargent's 
Memoir  should  not  be  neglected  (London,  1819),  and  Bell's  is 
worth  consulting  (New  York,  1881).  Consult  also  Kaye,  Chris- 
tianity in  India,  pp.  181-214  (London,  1859) ;  Yonge,  Pioneers  and 
Founders,  pp.  71-95  (London,  1871)  ;  Sherring,  History  of  Protes- 
tant Missions  in  India,  pp.  71-74.  There  is  an  important  article 
on  Martyn  in  the  Church  Quarterly  for  October,  1881.  On  India, 
with  special  reference  to  its  physical  and  ethnographical  features, 
see  Stanford's  Compendium  of  Geography  and  Travel — Asia,  by 
A.  H.  Keane,  F.  R.  G.  S.,  Vol.  II,  chap,  ii,  and  the  recently 
published  volume  on  India  in  "  Appleton's  World  Series  " ;  also 
Hunter,  Brief  History  of  the  Indian  Peoples  (Oxford,  1892), 
and  Wilkins,  Modern  Hinduism  (London,  1887).  Several  books 
of  much  value  for  the  study  of  missions  to  the  Mohammedans 
have  appeared  while  this  book  was  passing  through  the  press : 
Mrs.  Zwemer,  Our  Moslem  Sisters,  the  only  monograph  on  this 
form  of  mission  work;  Wherry,  Islam  and  Christianity  in  India 
and  the  Far  East;  and  the  most  heartening  book  on  the  subject 
ever  published.  The  Mohammedan  World  of  To-day,  papers  read 
at  the  first  missionary  conference  in  behalf  of  the  Mohammedan 
world,  held  at  Cairo,  April  4-9,  1906  (the  last  three  books  pub- 
lished by  Revell,  New  York).  Latest  of  all,  Zwemer,  Islam:  a 
Challenge  to  Faith   (Student  Volunteer  Movement). 


XVI 


HENRY   MARTYN  :  THE  FIRST   MODERN   MISSIONARY  TO  THE 

MOHAMMEDANS 

INDIA,  as  Metternich  once  scornfully  said  of  Italy,- 
is  a  geographical  expression.  Indeed,  the  epigram 
would  be  more  truly  spoken  of  the  India  of  to-day  than 
of  the  Italy  of  yesterday.  For,  when  Metternich  spoke, 
though  to  all  appearance  hopelessly  divided  politically,  so 
that  instead  of  a  united  Italy,  strong,  respected,  and  self- 
respecting,  that  fair  land  was  rent  into  a  multitude  of 
principalities  and  duchies,  mutually  jealous,  suspicious, 
hostile,  ready  to  fly  at  one  another's  throats  had  they  not 
been  restrained  by  the  stronger  hand  of  Austria,  neverthe- 
less, even  this  Italy  was  inhabited  by  a  people  essentially 
homogeneous,  speaking  one  language,  inheriting  com- 
mon traditions  of  a  glorious  past,  and  cherishing  a  death- 
less hope  of  a  glorious  future.  But  when  we  to-day  say 
India,  we  name  an  immense  territory,  having  fourteen 
times  the  area  of  Italy  and  a  population  equal  to  that  of 
all  Europe  aside  from  Russia ;  a  country  that  has  political 
unity,  in  the  sense  that  everywhere  over  it  floats  the 
banner  of  England ;  but  which  nevertheless  is  not  so  much 
a  nation  as  a  more  or  less  fortuitous  concourse  of  a  score  ^ 
of  nations.  At  least  four  different  races,  as  absolutely 
and  as  widely  variant  as  Greek  and  Hebrew,  are  found 
within  this  territory ;  and  each  of  these  is  subdivided  into 
numerous  others,  many  of  which  differ  as  markedly  as 
Italians,  Germans,  and  Irish. 

Nature  has  also  done  nearly  her  best  to  make  impos- 
sible  a   united   India.      Though   Hindustan   enjoys   one 
great  advantage  of  natural  position,  comparative  isola- 
u  305 


306  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

tion — cut  off  from  the  rest  of  Asia  as  it  is  by  the  vast 
range  of  mountains  on  the  north,  and  protected  on  the 
other  sides  of  its  triangular  area  by  the  Arabian  Sea  and 
the  bay  of  Bengal — it  is  yet  sharply  divided  into  four 
separate  Indias.  The  valleys  of  the  Indus  and  Ganges 
traverse  the  entire  northern  portion,  and  contain  the  once 
powerful  nations  of  Bengal,  Oudh,  and  the  Punjab.  To 
the  north  is  the  higher  region  of  Kashmir,  while  below 
is  another  high  tableland,  of  which  the  western  and 
larger  part  is  the  Rajputana,  and  the  eastern  the  ancient 
province  of  Orissa.  Again  intervenes  a  series  of  valleys, 
drained  by  the  Tapti  and  Narbada  on  the  west,  and  the 
Godavari,  Kistna,  and  the  smaller  streams  on  the  east.  In 
the  midst  of  these  lowlands,  called  the  Bombay  States 
and  the  Central  Provinces,  is  the  region  known  as  the 
Deccan,  of  which  the  highest  lands  are  the  provinces  of 
Haidarabad  and  Mysore.  The  nature  of  these  divisions 
may  be  made  clearly  comprehensible  by  a  single  illustra- 
tion :  suppose  a  subsidence  of  all  India  of  about  five  hun- 
dred or  six  hundred  feet  below  its  present  level;  all  that 
would  be  left  would  be  the  island  of  Deccan,  separated 
by  a  broad  strait  from  Rajputana  and  Orissa,  which 
would  be  two  other  islands,  while  a  second  broad  strait 
would  extend  nearly  to  the  base  of  the  Hindu  Kush 
mountains  on  the  northwest,  and  quite  to  the  Himalayas 
on  the  north  and  northeast.  The  geography,  no  less  than 
the  ethnography  of  India  forbids  unity — or,  at  least 
offers  numerous  and  grave  obstacles  to  the  attainment  of 
a  united  India. 

History  also  speaks  to  the  same  purpose.  Long  before 
written  records  begin,  the  Dravidians  (a  race  whose  af- 
finities have  yet  to  be  satisfactorily  determined)  invaded 
India  and  drove  before  them  the  Kolarians  (also  un- 
classified), who,  if  not  the  aborigines,  are  the  earliest  in- 
habitants of  whom  any  traces  remain.     Ages  later  an 


HENRY  MARTYN  307 

Aryan  race,  the  ancestors  of  the  present  Hindus,  fol- 
lowed and  drove  the  Dravidians  before  them  into  the 
Deccan,  themselves  occupying  the  northern  and  central 
portions  of  the  peninsula.  Besides  these  fundamental 
elements  of  the  population,  there  are  in  the  northeast 
several  tribes  of  Mongoloid  Thibeto-Burmans,  whose 
•affinities  are  distinctly  with  the  Chinese. 

But  in  spite  of  these  great  differences  of  stock,  the 
peoples  of  India  became  in  time  partly  fused,  through  the 
influence  of  religion.  The  ethnic  and  social  customs  of 
the  various  races  were  assimilated  to  those  of  their  Aryan 
conquerors,  whose  superior  intelligence  and  higher  civili- 
zation enabled  them  thus  to  impose  their  institutions  upon 
the  conquered  people.  Usually  it  happens  after  a  con- 
quest that  the  conquering  race,  being  numerically  inferior, 
is  gradually  incorporated  by  marriage  into  the  conquered 
people,  and  the  institutions  of  the  latter  survive  with 
little  change;  or  else,  an  amalgam  of  the  two  systems,  as 
well  as  of  the  two  races,  is  the  result.  The  former  fate 
seems  to  have  been  feared  by  the  conquerors  in  India, 
probably  with  good  reason,  and  there  is  evidence  that  the 
process  of  amalgamation  had  made  considerable  progress, 
when  the  system  of  caste  was  devised,  primarily  as  an 
expedient  to  uphold  the  political  and  social  supremacy 
of  the  Hindu  over  the  older  races.  The  Aryan  race  could 
probably  have  been  saved  from  absorption  and  ultimate 
extinction  by  no  other  expedient,  and  accordingly,  to 
give  to  the  caste  system  all  possible  strength,  it  was  in- 
vested with  the  highest  sanctions  of  religion.  The  work- 
ing of  the  same  causes  in  a  similar  direction  may  be  seen 
in  our  own  country  at  the  present  time.  To  preserve  the 
supremacy  of  the  Anglo-Saxon,  or  at  any  rate  of  the 
European  white  race,  determined  attempts  are  making 
to  foster  a  spirit  of  caste  that  will  put  the  yellow  and 
black  races  into  a  position  of  social  inferiority  and  politi- 


308  CHRISTIAN   EPOCH-MAKERS 

cal  inequality,  from  which  it  should  be  impossible  for 
them  ever  to  rise.  If  the  Hindu  really  understood  what 
free  America  is  to-day,  and  what  American  Christians  are 
to-day  attempting  to  do,  and  defending  in  the  name  of 
Christ — that  Christ  who  died  for  the  black  man  and  for 
the  yellow,  as  truly  as  for  the  white,  that  he  might  make 
them  all  his  brethren,  and  therefore  brethren  of  one 
another;  oh,  the  shame  of  such  teaching!  oh,  the  hor-. 
rible  blasphemy  of  calling  it  by  Christ's  name ! — if,  I  say, 
the  Hindu  could  understand  the  real  meaning  of  these 
things,  would  he  not  be  justified  in  saying  to  the  Chris- 
tian missionary  who  now  comes  to  him  and  exhorts  him 
to  renounce  the  wickedness  and  inhumanity  of  his  caste, 
"  Physician,  heal  thyself  "  ? 

This  system  became  firmly  established  long  before  the 
Christian  era,  and  only  twice  was  its  supremacy  seri- 
ously threatened.  The  first  occasion  was  the  rise  of 
Buddhism,  a  movement  in  India  that  has  often  been 
likened  to  the  Reformation  in  Europe;  and  the  rapid 
spread  of  the  new  religion  at  one  time  threatened  the 
extinction  of  Hinduism,  caste  and  all.  But  a  reaction 
followed ;  the  old  religion  and  the  old  social  system  re- 
asserted their  authority,  Buddhism  was  virtually  excluded 
from  the  country  that  gave  it  birth,  and  by  the  sixth  cen- 
tury of  our  era  Hinduism  had  become  triumphantly  re- 
established in  its  supremacy.  The  second  occasion  when 
the  very  life  of  the  religion  of  India  was  threatened  was 
the  period  of  the  Mohammedan  invasions,  beginning  in 
the  eleventh  century,  and  continuing  until  the  whole  of 
Hindustan  was  reduced  under  the  nominal  authority  of 
the  Mogul  dynasty.  But  the  victories  of  Mohammedan- 
ism, though  very  great,  were  more  apparent  than  real 
in  most  of  the  provinces.  A  few,  like  Kashmir,  Oudh, 
and  Haidarabad,  were  made  permanently  Mohammedan 
by  the  usual  persuasive,  the  sword,  but  at  no  time  were 


HENRY   MARTYN  3O9 

the  real  adherents  of  the  new  reUgion  more  than  one- 
quarter  of  the  people  of  India.  Even  at  that  figure,  say 
fifty  million,  they  surpass  the  population  of  any  single 
European  country,  save  Russia. 

These  Mohammedans  of  India  offer  the  most  favorable 
conditions  for  Christian  evangelization  that  are  found 
among  the  peoples  of  that  faith.  Fully  one- fourth  of  the 
total  Mohammedan  population  of  the  world  is  still  to  be 
found  in  India,  and  there  are  no  external  obstacles  worth 
mentioning  to  the  Christianizing  of  these  people. 

And  I  have  now  to  tell  you  the  story  of  the  first  at- 
tempt of  modern  Christians  to  reach  these  people  with 
the  gospel.  It  is  a  strange  fact  that  since  the  failure  of 
Christian  Europe  to  crush  Mohammedanism  by  the  Cru- 
sades, its  people  had  never  shown  a  particle  of  interest 
in  the  spiritual  welfare  of  Mohammedans.  During  the 
period  of  the  Crusades,  Raimund  Lull  and  Francis  of 
Assisi  had  vainly  attempted  to  inspire  and  lead  a  move- 
ment for  the  peaceful  conquest  of  those  whom  all 
Europe  had  for  two  generations  tried  in  vain  to  conquer 
by  the  sword.  Ignatius  Loyola  and  his  companions  had 
at  first  cherished  the  idea  of  a  mission  to  the  Saracens. 
With  these  exceptions,  the  Christian  nations  seem  always 
to  have  been  utterly  indifferent  to  this  matter.  The  case  is 
not  much  better  to-day:  interest  among  Christians  in 
Mohammedan  missions  is  still  languid  and  fitful.  That 
'there  is  any  interest  whatever  in  the  subject  is  due  chiefly 
to  the  life  and  labors  of  Henry  Martyn. 

The  IMartyns  were  a  Cornish  family,  who  had  won  a 
modest  competence  in  mining  operations.  Henry  Martyn 
was  born  February  i8,  1781,  and  at  an  early  age  was  sent 
to  school  at  Truro,  where  he  displayed  abilities  that  led 
his  father  to  hope  great  things  for  him.  He  entered 
Cambridge  in  his  seventeenth  year,  with  the  reputation 
already  of  being  a  good  scholar  in  classics,  but  little  short 


3IO  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

of  a  dunce  in  mathematics.  This,  he  afterward  con- 
fessed, was  not  due  to  a  want  of  aptitude  for  mathe- 
matical study,  so  much  as  to  disincHnation  on  his  part  for 
any  severe  mental  exertion.  Idleness  has  always  caused 
more  scholastic  failures  than  stupidity.  His  university 
career  seemed  to  confirm  this  diagnosis  of  his  case,  for  he 
soon  began  to  distinguish  himself  in  mathematics,  and 
finally  came  out  Senior  Wrangler  and  first  prizeman  at 
the  age  of  twenty-one.  The  following  year  he  won  a 
fellowship  at  St.  John,  and  a  university  prize  for  a  Latin 
essay.  This  was  one  of  the  most  brilliant  careers  in  the 
history  of  Cambridge. 

In  the  meantime,  two  things  had  happened  that  were 
to  determine  his  future  course  in  life — his  conversion  and 
the  death  of  his  father.  There  is  nothing  very  striking 
in  the  circumstances  of  his  conversion;  it  was  of  the  ordi- 
nary evangelical  type.  But  there  is  something  very  strik- 
ing in  the  piety  that  followed  the  conversion ;  it  too  was 
of  the  evangelical  type  of  that  day,  but  in  its  most 
extreme  and  unwholesome  form.  The  "  Journal "  of 
Henry  Martyn  is  a  painful  study  in  spiritual  pathology. 
His  biographers  have  with  one  voice  called  the  world  to 
admire  its  saintly  character,  and  many  have  obeyed  and 
pronounced  ecstatic  eulogies  upon  its  rare  spiritual 
quality.  Rare  that  quality  certainly  is,  and  may  a  mer- 
ciful heaven  ever  keep  it  so.  To  any  healthy  soul  there 
will  appear  to  be  nothing  admirable  in  these  egotistic 
outpourings,  which  one  could  so  easily  despise  if  he  were 
not  moved  by  a  too  profound  pity.  These  unmanly  wails 
make  one  blush  that  one  of  his  own  sex  could  ever  have 
penned  them,  even  in  the  deepest  privacy ;  or  that,  having 
penned  them,  in  some  hour  of  suffering,  in  a  saner 
moment  he  did  not  commit  them  to  the  flames.  The 
*'  Journal  "  is  the  record  of  a  deeply  religious,  profoundly 
earnest,  wholly  morbid  soul,  and  therefore  so  far  from 


HENRY  MARTYN  3II 

being  attractive  is  sickly  and  repulsive.  One  would  as 
quickly  call  upon  the  world  to  admire  the  beauty  of  a 
body  wasted  by  disease  and  in  the  last  stages  of  dissolu- 
tion, or  covered  with  the  loathsome  ulcers  of  leprosy,  as 
bid  men  admire  a  soul  like  Martyn's. 

The  basis  of  his  piety  was  the  notion  of  the  ascetic — 
that  all  the  natural  impulses  and  desires  of  man  are  in- 
trinsically vile,  and  any  yielding  to  them  is  sin;  and  that 
God  can  therefore  be  well  pleased  with  us  only  as  we 
constantly  fight  against,  deny,  and  crucify  every  such 
desire.  And  another  postulate  of  his  piety  was  that  the 
chief  duty  of  a  Christian  is  to  keep  his  finger  continually 
on  the  pulse  of  his  spiritual  life,  and  give  himself  daily 
and  hourly  to  self-examination — a  course  of  introspection 
that  can  lead  to  nothing  else  than  spiritual  ill-health,  just 
as  the  man  who  is  constantly  fussing  about  his  pulse  and 
his  temperature  and  his  clothing  and  his  diet  will  cer- 
tainly become  a  chronic  invalid.  Any  physician  will  tell 
you,  if  you  have  not  wit  enough  to  discover  it  for  your- 
self, that  a  little  judicious  neglect  of  the  body  is  essential 
to  the  preservation  of  good  health.  And  the  experience  of 
generations  of  Christians  has  proved  that  too  much 
solicitude  about  one's  soul  is  the  surest  of  all  roads  to 
spiritual  declension  and  weakness.  And  for  this  reason : 
the  example  of  Christ,  the  teaching  of  Christ,  the  teaching 
and  example  of  his  immediate  apostles,  is  to  think  not  of 
self  but  of  others.  He  who  reverses  this  process  is,  so 
far,  not  a  Christian,  but  a  heathen. 

It  is  not  to  the  maudlin  outpourings  of  Martyn's 
"  Journal,"  therefore,  that  we  are  to  look  for  proofs  of 
his  saintly  character,  but  to  what  he  was  and  to  what  he 
did.  A  passion  to  devote  himself  and  his  life  to  the  serv- 
ice of  his  Lord  and  the  welfare  of  his  fellows  took  pos- 
session of  his  heart  soon  a^ter  his  conversion  and  ruled 
him  to  the  end.    This  it  is  that  entitles  him  to  the  epithet 


312  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

of  "saintly;"  this  it  is  that  has  made  of  him  a  lasting 
spiritual  force,  the  inspirer  of  a  great  host  of  devoted 
Christian  missionaries  that  have  come  after  him. 

The  loss  of  his  father  was  soon  followed  by  the  loss 
of  his  patrimony,  and  in  several  ways  this  misfortune 
altered  the  probable  course  of  his  life.  He  had  already 
been  attracted  to  India  as  a  missionary  field,  by  the  pub- 
lication of  facts  concerning  Carey's  work,  and  had  even 
gone  so  far  as  to  offer  himself  to  the  Church  Missionary 
Society  as  a  volunteer  missionary,  to  go  out  under  its 
auspices  but  at  his  own  charges.  It  was  now  necessary 
for  him  to  adopt  a  new  course,  as  the  society  could  not 
guarantee  his  support,  and  he  no  longer  had  sufficient 
resources  to  provide  for  himself  and  a  younger  sister, 
also  penniless.  Some  kind  of  a  salaried  position  was 
indispensable.  Accordingly,  influential  friends  procured 
for  him  a  chaplaincy  in  the  Bengal  department  of  the 
East  India  Company.  Nominally  his  duty  would  be  to 
preach  to  the  soldiers  in  the  company's  employ,  wherever 
it  might  please  the  officials  to  station  him;  really  he 
could  be  as  much  a  missionary  as  his  inclination  prompted 
and  strength  permitted.  He  sailed  for  India  in  August, 
1815,  and  after  a  tedious  voyage,  in  the  course  of  which 
he  touched  at  Brazil  and  South  Africa,  he  landed  at 
Calcutta  in  the  following  May. 

His  leaving  home  was  accompanied  by  one  painful  epi- 
sode, which  cannot  be  passed  over  in  any  just  account 
of  his  life.  He  had  formed  a  very  deep  and  lasting  at- 
tachment for  Lydia  Grenfell,  a  young  woman  a  few 
years  older  than  himself,  apparently  in  every  way  fitted 
to  become  both  his  wife  and  his  fellow-laborer.  His 
affection  was  returned,  and  there  were  no  serious  obsta- 
cles to  the  marriage,  save  such  as  the  interested  parties 
themselves  created.  Miss  Grenfell  was  of  an  even  more 
introspective  and  morbid  turn  of  mind  than  Martyn,  and 


HENRY   MARTYN  3I3 

she  chose  to  entertain  scruples  of  conscience  about  marry- 
ing, because  forsooth  she  had  been  previously  engaged  to  a 
man  who  had  proved  utterly  unworthy  of  her  and  de- 
serted her  for  another,  to  whom,  however,  he  was  not  yet 
married.  It  seemed  to  this  painfully  pious  soul  that  she 
must  cherish  toward  this  unfaithful  lover  the  feelings  of 
a  widow  and  the  responsibility  of  a  wife,  and  her  con- 
science reproached  her  for  the  very  idea  of  forming 
another  tie  until  his  marriage  should  have  irrevocably 
severed  the  old  one. 

On  his  part,  Martyn  was  not  less  capable  of  scruples: 
he  tried  his  best  to  tear  this  human  love  out  of  his  heart, 
and  vow  himself  to  celibacy,  as  the  state  in  which  he 
could  best  serve  God  in  India.  His  sensible  friends  as- 
sured him  that  he  was  acting  like  a  madman  in  going 
out  to  India  unmarried;  that  he  especially  needed  such 
love  and  care  as  only  a  wife  can  give ;  while  the  heathen 
needed  the  object-lesson  of  a  Christian  home  as  much 
as  the  gospel  itself.  But  these  two  pious,  conscientious, 
and  unspeakably  silly  young  people  finally  parted  with 
the  understanding  that  if,  after  Martyn  had  tried  the 
field,  he  felt  that  it  was  expedient  for  him  to  marry,  he 
should  send  for  her.  After  a  year  on  the  field  Martyn 
was  convinced,  not  merely  that  his  personal  welfare  and 
happiness  would  be  promoted  by  marriage,  but  his 
usefulness  as  a  missionary.  Accordingly  he  wrote  to 
the  lady,  asking  her  to  come  out  to  be  married  to  him, 
and  she  proceeded  forthwith  to  hatch  a  fresh  brood  of 
scruples.  It  would  be  so  unmaidenly  and  indelicate  for 
her  to  come  to  him,  instead  of  his  coming  to  her,  and 
worst  of  all,  her  mother  would  not  consent.  As  the 
young  woman  was  now  past  thirty,  and  her  mother  had 
several  other  children  near,  and  was  by  no  means  de- 
pendent upon  her,  it  would  seem  that  she  had  every  right 
to  decide  this  question  for  herself,  and  her  mother  no 


314  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

right  whatever  to  interpose  objection.  But  she  could 
not  bring  herself  to  disobey,  nor  would  Martyn  urge  her 
to  do  so.  And  so  the  matter  ended.  No  doubt,  as  his 
friends  predicted,  his  life  was  shortened  for  lack  of  her 
womanly  ministrations;  and  her  life  was  bereft  of 
woman's  crowning  blessing.  It  is  one  of  those  tragedies 
of  which  the  most  pathetic  and  heart-wringing  part  is 
that  they  are  utterly  needless,  utterly  useless. 

From  the  day  of  his  arrival  in  India,  Alartyn  threw 
himself  with  the  greatest  ardor  into  his  missionary  labors. 
Even  before  leaving  England,  he  had  begun  to  prepare 
himself  for  the  work  by  studies  in  Hindustani,  and  ap- 
parently in  Arabic  and  Persian  also.  He  had  been  able 
to  make  considerable  progress  in  mastering  the  grammar 
of  these  languages,  and  he  made  the  more  rapid  advance 
in  Arabic  from  the  fact  that  he  was  a  good  Hebrew 
scholar,  according  to  the  standards  of  his  day.  His 
progress  in  Hindustani,  after  his  arrival  in  India,  was 
such  that  in  about  ten  months  he  was  able  to  begin 
services  among  the  natives.  From  the  first  he  regarded 
the  Mohammedans  of  India  as  his  special  charge.  This 
was  in  large  part  because  nothing  was  attempted  by  other 
missionaries  in  their  behalf,  and  his  soul  yearned  to  do 
something  for  these  neglected  people.  Such  experience 
as  he  had  among  the  Hindus,  moreover,  convinced  him 
that  less  success  was  to  be  hoped  for  in  that  quarter  than 
among  the  Mohammedans.  ''  Truly,"  he  says  in  his 
"  Journal,"  ''  if  ever  I  see  a  Hindu  a  real  believer  in 
Jesus,  I  shall  see  something  more  nearly  approaching  the 
resurrection  of  a  dead  body  than  anything  I  have  yet 
seen."  With  great  ardor,  therefore,  he  gave  himself  to 
the  acquisition  of  the  three  languages  that  would  most 
effectually  put  him  into  communication  with  the  Moham- 
medan masses,  and  especially  enable  him  to  give  them  at 
least  the  Gospels  in  their  own  tongues. 


HENRY   MARTYN  315 

At  the  same  time  he  continued  faithfully  his  duty  as 
chaplain,  which  involved  frequent  preaching  to  the  Eng- 
lish residents  in  his  various  stations.  From  these  he  not 
only  experienced  little  sympathy,  but  much  opposition 
and  hostile  criticism.  The  contempt  of  the  English  for 
the  natives — a  universal  feeling  among  those  in  either 
civil  or  military  service  at  that  time — was  quickly  trans- 
ferred to  one  who  attempted  to  do  anything  for  these  de- 
spised people.  But  they  had  a  better  reason  than  this  for 
their  feeling;  Martyn  did  not  hesitate  to  preach  to  them 
as  their  godlessness  and  immorality  required.  He  told 
them  plainly  that  they  were  traveling  the  broad  road  to 
hell,  that  their  self-righteousness  and  conceit  of  knowl- 
edge would  be  their  eternal  ruin,  unless  they  turned  from 
their  sins  and  obeyed  the  call  of  the  gospel.  This  was 
new  and  by  no  means  welcome  preaching  in  India.  Other 
chaplains  had  been  practically  Arian  in  theology,  and  had 
delivered  moral  essays  which  produced  no  effect  what- 
ever, Martyn's  preaching  at  least  made  his  hearers  think, 
and  if  it  excited  their  wrath,  this  was  merely  because  he 
told  them  unpalatable  truths,  which,  in  their  hearts,  they 
felt  to  be  truths. 

Six  years  only  Martyn  was  able  to  pursue  his  labors. 
From  the  first  his  health  was  frail.  He  inherited  a  ten- 
dency to  pulmonary  disease — his  sisters  died  before  him, 
and  all  of  them  of  consumption.  The  climate  of  India,  at 
least  the  part  where  he  was  stationed,  was  not  unfavor- 
able. In  the  dry  air  of  Cawnpore,  where  he  remained 
longest,  many  consumptives  have  made  a  good  recovery. 
But  Martyn  had  no  prudence,  he  lacked  that  watchful 
care  which  might  have  prolonged  his  days,  his  morbid 
conscience  was  forever  stirring  him  to  attempt  more  than 
he  was  capable  of  doing,  and  so  he  was  making  continual 
drafts  on  the  future;  and  after  a  time,  as  always  hap- 
pens, nature  refused  to  honor  these  drafts — the  capital 


3l6  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

was  exhausted,  he  was  physically  bankrupt.  "  Now  let 
me  burn  out  for  God,"  he  said  on  his  arrival  in  India. 
He  suspected  that  his  time  might  be  short,  and  so  he 
made  it  still  shorter  by  burning  his  candle  at  both  ends. 
A  more  brilliant  light  he  made  for  a  brief  time,  indeed, 
but  was  this  the  way  to  make  the  most  of  himself  in  the 
service  of  God? 

Who  shall  answer  the  question?  It  is  possible,  even 
probable,  in  view  of  all  that  we  now  know,  that  this  brief, 
intense,  zealous,  brilliant  career  of  Henry  Martyn  has 
been  a  greater  force  in  the  history  of  missions  than  five 
times  his  number  of  years'  service  could  have  been,  had 
he  lived  a  quiet,  prudent,  patiently  laborious  life.  Never- 
theless, though  this  may  be  true,  for  the  ordinary  mis- 
sionary that  course  of  life  is  most  likely  to  be  useful 
which  promises  length  of  years  and  the  service  that  can 
come  only  of  ripe  experience.  While  danger  is  not  to  be 
shunned,  while  life  and  health  are  to  be  cheerfully  risked, 
when  necessary,  ordinary  prudence  and  care  are  as  need- 
ful on  the  foreign  field  as  at  home;  and  in  neither  is 
suicide,  though  performed  in  the  name  of  Christ,  to  be 
commended. 

For  the  details  of  the  missionary  labors  of  Martyn, 
the  story  of  his  life  and  death,  I  refer  to  the  thorough  and 
sympathetic  biography  of  Dr.  George  Smith.  No  great 
success  attended  these  labors,  as  we  are  coming  to  rate 
success  abroad  as  well  as  at  hom.e,  namely,  by  the  count- 
ing of  converts.  Martyn  laments  on  one  occasion,  in  his 
"  Journal,"  the  poor  showing  in  this  respect  made  by  his 
work,  but  it  was  a  needless  sorrow.  For  his  work  was, 
in  the  main,  of  necessity  a  pioneer  work.  He  might  have 
said  with  a  greater  apostle,  "  God  sent  me  not  to  bap- 
tize, but  to  preach  the  gospel  " ;  and  to  him,  preaching  the 
gospel  meant  giving  that  gospel  in  their  own  vernaculars 
to  one  hundred  million  Mohammedans.    In  other  words, 


HENRY   MARTYN  3I7 

the  work  of  translation  was  that  to  which  he  was 
especially  called,  by  providence  and  by  fitness. 

For  he  was  exceptionally  fitted  to  do  this  work.  He 
had  the  native  gift  of  tongues,  and  his  earliest  evidences 
of  scholarship  were  his  boyish  attainments  in  the  classics. 
He  was  for  a  time  withdrawn  from  this  pursuit  in  part 
by  his  mathematical  studies,  but  these  were  a  tour  de 
force;  the  study  of  languages  was  his  first  love  and  his 
last.  Though  he  had  much  difficulty  in  procuring  com- 
petent instructors  in  India,  and  was  sometimes  deceived 
as  to  the  knowledge  possessed  by  those  whom  he  did 
finally  employ,  he  made  great  strides  in  those  languages 
to  which  he  mainly  confined  his  studies.  Nothing  but  his 
early  death  prevented  his  becoming  a  great  Orientalist, 
a  worthy  third  to  William  Carey  and  Sir  William  Jones. 
Short  as  his  life  was,  he  had  completed  before  his  death 
a  remarkable  amount  of  translation.  Nothing  even  in 
Carey's  unrivaled  career  as  a  translator  exceeds  the 
value  of  Martyn's  achievement,  considering  the  brief 
time  and  the  adverse  conditions  under  which  it  was  per- 
formed. The  acquirement  of  three  languages,  so  utterly 
diverse  as  Hindustani,  Arabic,  and  Persian,  and  the  com- 
pletion in  each  of  these  of  a  version  of  the  entire  New 
Testament,  all  in  the  space  of  six  years,  and  this  done  by 
a  man  in  feeble  health — this  is  certainly  an  astonishing 
intellectual  feat,  and  is  probably  unexcelled  in  the  history 
of  missionary  translations.  Besides  these,  he  also  trans- 
lated into  Hindustani  most  of  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer,  and  prepared  in  the  same  language  a  commen- 
tary on  the  Parables. 

The  first  of  these  versions  was  the  Hindustani.  Many 
dialects  of  this  language  are  spoken  in  India,  but  speak- 
ers of  any  dialect  who  can  read  are  able  to  use  this  ver- 
sion. A  delay  in  the  publication,  caused  by  a  fire  in  the 
press  at  Serampore,  deprived  Martyn  of  seeing  this  in 


3l8  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

print;  in  fact,  it  did  not  finally  appear  until  two  years 
after  his  death.  Within  the  next  generation,  however, 
sixteen  editions  were  printed  and  circulated  in  India. 
Two  years  later  the  version  in  modern  Arabic  was  printed 
in  Calcutta.  Three  editions  of  this  were  printed  and 
circulated,  but  it  has  now  been  superseded  by  a  version 
made  by  two  American  mi-ssionaries  at  Beirut,  who  spent 
thirty  years  at  their  task,  and  produced  an  Arabic  Bible 
acknowledged  to  be  one  of  the  most  perfect  missionary 
versions  ever  made. 

The  four  Gospels  in  Persian  was  the  only  part  of  his 
work  that  Martyn  ever  saw  in  print.  This  first  draft 
was  very  unsatisfactory  to  him,  and  to  perfect  it  he 
made  the  visit  to  Persia  in  the  course  of  which  he  died. 
He  lived,  however,  to  complete  the  New  Testament  in 
that  language.  The  first  edition  was  published  by  the 
Russian  Bible  Society,  at  St.  Petersburg,  in  1815,  and  a 
second  appeared  the  following  year  at  Calcutta.  Three 
other  editions  have  since  been  issued,  and  a  translation 
of  the  Old  Testament  was  added  (Martyn  himself  having 
done  the  Psalter),  and  the  whole  Bible  was  printed  in 
1848.  The  Old  Testament  part  was  in  no  way  equal  to 
the  work  of  Martyn,  and  another  translation  of  that  has 
been  substituted,  but  his  New  Testament  version  still 
remains  unaltered  and  is  recognized  as  his  greatest  work. 
Persian  scholars  unite  in  praising  its  accuracy,  elegance, 
and  idiomatic  purity.  The  Hindustani  and  Persian  ver- 
sions of  the  New  Testament  are  Henry  Martyn's  monu- 
ment, and  a  greater  no  missionary  need  desire. 

Beyond  its  power  to  inspire  other  young  men  and  direct 
them  in  the  way  of  missionary  endeavor,  what  fruit  has 
the  life  of  Henry  Martyn  borne?  What  has  been  done 
by  those  who  have  come  after  him  to  give  the  gospel  to 
the  people  for  whom  he  lived  and  labored  and  died? 
Very  little,  it  must  be  confessed.     Many  have  imitated 


HENRY  MARTYN  3I9 

him  in  becoming  missionaries,  but  none  (or  almost  none) 
in  becoming  missionaries  to  the  Mohammedans.  There 
is  no  society  in  existence  for  the  specific  purpose  of 
evangeHzing  the  Mohammedans,  though  there  are  several 
societies  for  preaching  the  gospel  to  the  Jews,  a  people 
quite  as  hard  to  reach,  and  numerically  but  a  small  frac- 
,tion  of  the  Mohammedan  peoples  of  the  earth.  I  do  not 
argue  that  less  should  be  done  for  the  Jews,  but  that  the 
Moliammedans  ought  not  to  be  so  completely  neglected. 
The  opinion  of  Martyn  himself  was  not  favorable  to 
the  immediate  success,  at  least,  of  direct  missionary  effort 
among  the  adherents  of  this  religion.  He  won  very  few 
converts,  and  v/as  not  fully  satisfied  of  the  genuine  Chris- 
tian character  of  those  few.  He  held  many  disputations 
with  Mohammedan  teachers,  especially  while  in  Persia, 
and  seems  to  have  been  a  subtle  and  dangerous  con- 
troversialist, but  no  practical  results  followed  these  dis- 
cussions, and  he  expected  none.  He  disputed  because  he 
was  challenged  by  the  Mohammedan  teachers  and  theo- 
logians, and  he  could  not  decline  without  producing  the 
impression  that  Christianity  was  a  weak  religion,  inca- 
pable of  rational  defence.  Unwilling  to  let  such  a  belief 
get  abroad,  he  engaged  in  argument  with  the  foremost 
representatives  of  Mohammedanism  in  Persia  and  con- 
quered their  respect,  but  he  had  little  hope  of  winning 
their  allegiance  to  Christ. 

To  him  it  seemed  that  the  circulation  of  the  Scriptures, 
and  especially  of  the  New  Testament,  was  the  best  mis- 
sionary agency  among  this  people,  and  this  explains  the 
ardor  with  which  he  gave  himself  almost  exclusively  to 
the  work  of  translating.  And  in  great  part  this  opinion 
has  been  justified  by  the  facts.  Against  the  Christian 
missionary  there  is  much  prejudice  in  any  Mohammedan 
country;  against  the  Bible  comparatively  little.  Much 
in  the  Old  Testament  is  similar  to  what  is  found  in  the 


320  CHRISTIAN   EPOCH-MAKERS 

Koran,  Mohammed  having  wrought  into  his  book  such 
Jewish  history  and  doctrine  as  he  had  orally  learned. 
Mohammed  always  spoke  of  Jesus  as  a  prophet,  a  great 
religious  teacher,  and  to  read  the  words  of  Jesus  in  the 
Gospels  is  in  no  way  repugnant  to  Mohammedan  ideas 
of  religious  duty.  The  circulation  of  the  Bible,  there- 
fore, has  never  been  prohibited  in  any  Mohammedan 
country,  and  such  circulation  is  the  chief  work  thus  far 
undertaken.  But  while  the  reading  of  the  Bible  must 
produce  some  effect  in  these  countries,  not  much  is  visible. 

It  is  an  unthinking  Christian  sentiment  that  has  for  so 
many  centuries  given  over  all  Mohammedans  as  a  hope- 
less case,  whom  nothing  could  win  to  the  acceptance  of 
the  gospel.  Where  the  gospel  has  really  been  faithfully 
preached  to  them,  they  have  not  proved  inaccessible.  In 
only  one  place  can  such  preaching  be  said  to  have  been 
tried,  in  modern  times  at  any  rate,  and  that  is  in  the 
Dutch  East  Indies.  In  Java  and  Sumatra  many  thou- 
sands of  Mohammedans  have  been  converted  and  bap- 
tized in  the  last  quarter-century,  through  the  labors  of 
faithful  German  missionaries.  There  is  no  good  reason 
to  doubt  that  like  faithful  efforts  would  bring  forth  like 
results  in  British  India,  or  among  any  Mohammedan 
population  where  the  political  authorities  are  not  adverse. 
In  the  Turkish  empire,  where  death  is  still  the  penalty 
of  a  Musselman's  apostasy,  converts  are  not  to  be  looked 
for,  nor  is  it  advisable  for  missionaries  to  risk  their  lives 
in  laboring  where  the  Turk  still  rules.  But  everywhere 
else,  unless  it  may  be  in  some  parts  of  Africa  where  the 
Mahdi's  influence  is  still  felt,  there  is  no  danger  to  either 
missionaries  or  converts,  and  no  open  opposition  to  be 
apprehended. 

Mohammedan  missions  ought,  at  any  rate,  not  to  be 
pronounced  hopeless  until  the  experiment  has  had  a  fair 
trial,  and  can  any  Christian  honestly  say  that  a  fair  trial 


HENRY  MARTYN  32 1 

has  ever  been  made?  Raimund  Lull  in  the  fourteenth 
century  and  Henry  Martyn  in  the  nineteenth  are  the  only 
two  men  in  the  history  of  Christianity  who  have  fully 
taken  upon  their  hearts  the  burden  of  this  work,  and 
have  given  their  lives  for  it.  Is  that  a  fair  measure  of 
what  Christendom  owes  to  the  followers  of  Mohammed 
under  the  Great  Commission  of  Jesus  Christ?  And 
shall  it  be  written  in  the  book  of  God's  remembrance,  to 
the  shame  of  Christendom  at  large,  that  such  men  as 
these  spent  their  heroic  lives  and  died  in  vain?  Far  be  it. 
Mohammedanism  threatens  to  divide  with  Christianity 
the  empire  of  the  world.  As  once  on  the  plains  of  Tours, 
the  hosts  of  France  under  Charles  Martel  and  the  invad- 
ing hordes  of  Abderrahman  met  to  do  battle  for  lordship 
of  the  Western  world,  so  now  the  forces  of  Christianity 
and  Mohammedanism  are  joining  battle  for  the  posses- 
sion of  Asia  and  Africa.  Always  Mohammedanism  has 
been  a  missionary  religion,  and  its  past  conquests  have 
been  something  marvelous.  True,  it  has  gained  a  large 
part  of  them  by  the  sword,  but  that  objection  comes  with 
an  ill  grace  from  any  Christian  who  has  made  study  of 
the  history  of  his  own  religion.  Of  late  years  the  religion 
of  Mohammed  has  shown  symptoms  of  revived  energy, 
of  new  missionary  zeal.  It  has  been  sending  forth  its 
preachers,  and  for  the  most  part  now  relies  as  exclusively 
on  peaceful  means  as  does  Christianity.  Nor  are  indica- 
tions lacking  that  this  zeal  meets  with  its  due  reward.  In 
Africa  there  is  little  doubt  that  the  religion  of  the  cres- 
cent is  making  more  rapid  progress  than  the  religion  of 
the  cross.  In  Asia  some  progress  is  making  and,  encour- 
aged by  this  fact,  the  believers  in  the  Koran  are  about  to 
undertake  new  enterprises.  Everything  points  to  a  re- 
newal of  the  old  struggle,  and  in  the  near  future  Chris- 
tianity is  certain  to  find  Mohammedanism  its  most 
determined  and  powerful  organized  enemy. 


322  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

We  who  are  believers  in  the  gospel  of  Christ  as  adapted 
to  all  men,  as  the  power  of  God  to  salvation,  we  who  still 
recognize  the  name  of  Jesus  as  the  only  name  given  in 
heaven  or  among  men  whereby  men  can  be  saved — we, 
I  say,  can  have  no  doubt  as  to  the  ultimate  result  of  this 
conflict.  But  it  does  behoove  the  followers  of  Christ  to 
be  up  and  doing,  to  cast  away  this  supine  notion  that  any 
nation  is  impervious  to  the  gospel,  to  cease  believing  that 
all  other  men,  even  the  Jew,  may  possibly  be  converted, 
but  not  the  Alohammedan.  If  this  is  not  an  article  of 
faith  among  us,  no  less  firmly  held  because  held  silently, 
then  so  much  the  more  disgraceful  is  our  conduct.  If  we 
have  not  even  the  poor  excuse  of  believing  the  conversion 
of  Mohammedans  to  be  impossible,  and  all  labor  bestowed 
on  them  a  patent  waste,  then  what  shall  we  plead  as  a 
reason  for  neglecting  them  these  twelve  centuries?  Let 
us  bring  forth  fruits  meet  for  repentance,  and  do  what 
lies  in  us  to  give  the  gospel  truth  to  the  followers  of  Mo- 
hammed as  well  as  to  all  other  perishing  men  on  the  earth. 
Where  is  the  new  Raimund  Lull,  where  is  the  second 
Henry  Martyn,  who  will  offer  himself  for  this  work  and 
awaken  the  long  dormant  conscience  of  the  church  of 
Christ? 


XVII 

ADONIRAM  JUDSON  :  THE  BEGINNING 
OF  MISSIONS  IN  AMERICA 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

The  original  sources  for  the  Hfe  of  Judson  were  destroyed 
by  fire  a  few  years  ago,  but  fortunately  not  until  they  had  been 
twice  made  available  for  thorough  biographical  study.  The  first 
Memoir,  by  Dr.  Francis  Wayland  (two  vols.,  New  York,  1853), 
still  has  great  value,  notwithstanding  the  more  recent  publication 
of  an  ideal  biography  by  Doctor  Judson's  son,  Edward  Judson 
(New  York,  1883).  Hardly  less  valuable  are  the  Memoirs  of  his 
three  wives:  Ann  Haseltine,  by  Knowles  (Boston,  1829);  Sarah 
Boardman,  by  "Fanny  Forrester"  (New  York,  1848);  and 
Emily  Chubbuck,  by  A.  C.  Kendrick  (New  York,  1861).  A 
store  of  material  bearing  on  the  early  American  missions  may 
be  found  in  Anderson's  History  of  the  Missions  of  the  American 
Board  (five  vols.,  Boston,  1870-4)  and  Memorial  Volume  of  the 
First  Fifty  Years  of  the  American  Board  (Boston,  1861)  ;  while 
for  the  Baptist  missions,  the  direct  continuation  of  Judson's  work, 
one  should  consult  the  Missionary  Jubilee  volume  of  the  Ameri- 
can Baptist  Missionary  Union  (New  York,  1869);  Smith,  Mis- 
sionary Sketches  (two  series,  Boston,  1879,  1883)  ;  Titterington, 
A  Century  of  Baptist  Missions  (Philadelphia,  1891)  ;  Merriam, 
History  of  American  Baptist  Missions  (Philadelphia,  1900). 


XVII 

ADONIRAM  JUDSON  I  THE  BEGINNING  OF  FOREIGN  MISSIONS 
IN  AMERICA 

ONE  afternoon  in  the  spring  of  1806  five  young  men, 
students  in  Williams  College,  were  taking  their 
daily  "  constitutional "  together  in  the  fields  near  Wil- 
liamstown.  They  were  students  for  the  ministry,  and 
for  some  time  their  minds  had  been  exercised  regarding 
the  spiritual  destitution  of  so  large  a  part  of  the  world, 
and  the  question  of  their  own  duty  in  obedience  to  the 
Great  Commission.  A  thunder-shower  came  on  and  they 
took  refuge  under  the  lee  of  a  haystack  and  continued 
their  conversation.  These  five  young  men  were  Samuel 
J.  Mills,  James  Richards,  Francis  L.  Robbins,  Harvey 
Loomis,  and  Byram  Green.  Mills  was  the  leading  spirit 
among  them,  the  man  of  action,  and  on  this  occasion  he 
proposed  that  they  devote  themselves  to  sending  the  gos- 
pel to  the  heathen.  To  the  objections  of  his  comrades 
that  this  was  too  great  an  enterprise  for  them  to  under- 
take, he  replied,  **  We  can  do  it  if  we  will."  His  urgency 
persuaded  his  friends,  and  they  knelt  in  prayer  by  the 
haystack  and  solemnly  dedicated  themselves  to  the  work 
of  foreign  missions.  Then  and  there  the  great  missionary 
enterprises  of  American  Christians  were  born,  and  the 
spot  is  now  fittingly  commemorated  by  a  beautiful  marble 
monument. 

These  students  and  others  formed  a  missionary  society, 
and  met  frequently  to  study  the  necessities  of  the  great 
field.  Two  years  later  several  of  them  signed  a  pledge 
binding  themselves  to  the  foreign  \york,  if  it  should  be 

325 


326  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

possible  for  them  to  go.  Among  these  were  Gordon  Hall 
and  Luther  Rice.  The  prospect  for  the  successful  prose- 
cution of  such  a  plan  was  not  encouraging.  There  was 
not  a  missionary  society  in  America ;  there  was  no  inter- 
est in  the  subject  of  foreign  missions  among  the  churches ; 
there  was  scant  means  of  reaching  the  people  through 
newspapers  and  the  mails  to  arouse  their  interest.  These 
young  men — and  God — were  all  who  seemed  to  care  in 
the  least  whether  the  heathen  had  the  gospel  or  not.  But 
they  were  not  dismayed  by  these  obstacles ;  how  the  way 
was  to  be  opened  they  knew  not;  but  they  believed  this 
to  be  God's  work,  and  that  he  would  open  the  way  accord- 
ing to  his  good  pleasure.  Their  faith  was  justified  by 
the  event,  as  such  faith  always  is  justified. 

In  1810  these  young  men — Mills,  Richards,  Hall,  and 
Rice — became  students  at  the  Andover  Theological  Semi- 
nary, where  they  met  others  of  like  spirit,  Samuel  Nott, 
Samuel  Newell,  and  Adoniram  Judson.'  All  three  of 
these  men  had  been  considering  their  duty  for  some  time 
before,  and  as  early  as  February,  1810,  Judson  had  made 
his  irrevocable  decision  to  become  a  missionary  to  the 
heathen.     It  was  not  a  decision  lightly  formed.     His  in- 

1  Nott  was  a  nephew  of  Dr.  Eliphalet  Nott,  the  famous  president  of 
Union  College,  and  was  a  graduate  of  that  institution,  while  Newell,  a 
nr.tive  of  Maine,  was  a  gradute  of  Harvard.  Judson  was  from  Brown 
University.  In  a  letter  written  years  later,  Judson  said:  "I  have  ever 
thought  that  the  providence  of  God  v/as  conspicuously  manifested  in  bring- 
ing us  all  together  from  different  and  distant  parts.  Some  of  us  had  been 
considering  the  subject  of  missions  a  long  time,  and  some  but  recently. 
Some,  and  indeed  the  greater  part,  had  thought  chiefly  of  domestic  mis- 
sions, and  efforts  among  the  neighboring  tribes  of  Indians,  without  contem- 
plating the  abandonment  of  country  and  devotement  for  life.  The  reading 
and  reflection  of  others  had  led  them  in  a  different  way;  and  when  we  all 
met  at  the  same  seminary  and  came  to  a  mutual  understanding  on  the 
ground  of  foreign  missions  and  missions  for  life,  the  subject  assumed  in 
our  minds  such  an  overwhelming  importance  and  awful  solemnity  as  bound 
us  to  one  another  and  to  our  purpose  more  firmly  than  ever.  How  evident 
it  is  that  the  Spirit  of  God  had  been  operating  in  different  places  and  upon 
different  individuals,  preparing  the  way  for  those  movements  which  have 
since  pervaded  the  American  churches."  (Taylor,  "  Life  of  Luther  Rice," 
p.  88.) 


ADONIRAM   JUDSON  32/ 

terest  in  the  subject  was  awakened  by  a  sermon  that  fell 
into  his  hands,  by  a  former  chaplain  of  the  British  East 
India  Company,  on  "  The  Star  in  the  East."  It  was  not 
what  we  commonly  call  a  missionary  sermon — preached, 
that  is  to  say,  with  the  direct  purpose  of  arousing  interest 
in  the  work  of  missions..  Its  leading  thought  was  the 
evidences  of  divine  power  of  the  Christian  religion  in  the 
East,  as  shown  in  the  labors  of  Schwartz  in  particular. 
For  a  year  this  thought  burned  in  Judson's  heart  before 
he  made  the  final  choice. 

Nor  was  the  choice  an  easy  one.  This  was  no  decision 
to  go  abroad  on  the  part  of  one  who  had  no  prospect  of 
success  at  home.  It  is  sometimes  said  that,  in  days 
gone  by,  when  there  was  one  in  a  family  of  boys  who  was 
dreamy  and  unpractical  and  seemed  good  for  nothing 
else,  they  would  send  him  to  college  and  make  a  minister 
of  him.  And  as  one  learns  how  many  weak,  inefficient, 
misfit  men  there  have  been  and  are  in  the  ministry,  one 
finds  it  not  so  difficult  to  believe  the  tale.  Likewise  the 
notion  has  to  some  extent  prevailed  in  certain  quarters 
that  if  there  were  in  a  seminary  class  a  man  who  showed 
no  prospect  of  becoming  an  acceptable  preacher,  a  wise 
pastor,  and  a  good  organizer — a  man,  in  short,  whom 
few  churches  would  be  likely  to  call,  and  who  would  be 
pretty  certain  not  to  stay  long  wherever  he  were  called — 
that  such  a  man  should  become  a  missionary.  Anything 
is  good  enough  for  the  heathen;  they  must  take  what 
they  can  get  and  be  thankful  for  it.  I  need  not  waste 
breath  to  combat  this  notion;  I  need  not  argue  that  the 
keenest  intellect,  the  choicest  culture,  the  finest  gift  of 
eloquence,  the  largest  capacity  of  leadership,  are  de- 
manded in  the  work  of  missions  and  will  find  there  full 
scope  for  their  exercise.  Not  our  poorest  men,  but  our 
best,  should  oflfer  themselves  for  this  work  and  be  gladly 
spared  by  our  churches. 


^ 


328  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

It  has  been  thus,  to  a  large  extent,  in  the  history  of 
American  missions.  Judson  and  his  companions  had 
every  prospect  of  brilHant  careers  in  their  own  land  and 
among  their  own  people.  Judson's  prospects  were  espe- 
cially brilliant.  After  his  graduation  'from  Brown  Uni- 
versity, where  he  was  valedictorian  of  his  class  at  nine- 
teen, he  was  offered  a  tutorship,  with  the  certainty  of  a 
professorship  to  follow,  if  he  chose  to  making  teaching 
his  profession ;  and  he  had  both  the  ability  and  the  oppor- 
tunity to  write  his  name  among  the  first  of  American 
educators.  Or  if  he  chose,  as  he  did,  to  enter  the  min- 
istry, his  gifts  were  such  as  to  promise  eminence  in  that 
calling.  He  had  no  need  to  seek  a  career  elsewhere  be- 
cause none  here  was  open  to  him;  on  every  side  doors 
flew  back  to  give  him  entrance,  and  he  had  but  to  elect 
through  which  he  would  walk.  America  lost  a  great 
educator,  scholar,  man  of  letters,  preacher,  leader,  when 
she  gave  Adoniram  Judson  to  India  and  to  foreign  mis- 
sions, but  who  is  ready  to  say  that  America  lost  by  the 
gift? 

Francis  of  Assisi  had  twelve  disciples  and  followers 
when  he  founded  the  order  that  was  to  revolutionize  the 
Roman  Church  of  the  thirteenth  century.  Ignatius 
Loyola,  with  six  others  of  like  spirit,  became  the  greatest 
force  in  the  Roman  Church  of  the  seventeenth  century. 
These  six  young  students  at  Andover  were  destined,  not 
to  found  an  order,  but  to  begin  a  new  Christian  enterprise, 
in  its  effects  as  far-reaching  and  introducing  spiritual 
changes  as  profound  as  anything  discoverable  in  the  his- 
tory of  Franciscans  or  Jesuits.  Yet  nothing  could  have 
been  further  from  their  purpose  or  expectation  than  this. 
They  so  little  planned  the  founding  of  a  missionary 
society  in  America  that  the  project  never  occurred  to 
them.  They  rather  hoped  to  be  sent  to  the  work  they  had 
chosen  by  one  of  the   foreign   societies,   and  with  this 


i^'- 


ADONIRAM   JUDSON  329 

thought  in  mind  they  entered  into  preliminary  corre- 
spondence with  the  London  Missionary  Society.  ^'-'^^CP^ 

They  were  fortunate,  however,  in  having  a  wise  ad- 
viser.^^Moses  Stuart  was  then  professor  of  sacred  htera- 
ture  in  the  Andover  Seminary.  He  is  gratefully  remem- 
bered as  the  pioneer  among  those  men  whose  attainments 
in  biblical  literature  first  won  the  world's  respect  for 
American  scholarship.  He  deserves  still  higher  honor 
from  us  for  the  timely  encouragement  and  wise  counsel 
that  he  gave  these  young  men  at  the  critical  moment,  so 
that  he,  almost  equally  with  them,  became  the  originator 
of  the  American  missionary  enterprise.  He  could  so 
easily  have  thrown  cold  water  on  their  youthful  enthu- 
siasm, and  quenched  the  whole  affair — as  so  often  has 
been  done  in  like  cases  by  men  esteemed  wise  and  pru- 
dent. He  could  so  easily  have  encouraged  them  to  rash 
action  that  would  have  led  to  speedy  and  ignominious 
failure.  He  could  have  taken  the  eminently  safe  course 
of  advising  them  to  do  that  which  they  had  already  begun 
— in  which  case  an  English  society  would  very  likely 
have  sent  them  out,  and  their  own  immediate  end  would 
have  been  gained,  but  the  Christians  of  America  would 
have  remained  unaffected. 

But  he  did  none  of  these  things.  He  did  the  one  wise 
and  sensible  thing  in  the  premises:  advised  them  to  lay 
their  case  before  their  fellow-Christians  of  Massachu- 
setts; to  tell  to  their  own  brethren  their  missionary  call 
and  purpose,  and  trust  the  Christian  love  of  their  brethren 
to  respond  promptly,  and  practical  Yankee  sense  to 
realize  their  ideal.  This  advice  of  Professor  Stuart  ap- 
proved itself  to  other  members  of  the  Andover  faculty, 
and  some  neighboring  ministers  who  were  also  called  into 
consultation,  and  with  the  full  approbation  of  all  the  case 
was  submitted  to  the  General  Association  of  the  Congre- 
gational churches  of  Massachusetts,  which  met  at  Brad- 


330  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

ford,  June  26,  1810/  Three  days  later  a  plan  was 
adopted  by  the  Association  for  the  organization  of  a  mis- 
sionary society,  and  on  September  5  the  American  Board 
of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions  was  formally 
constituted. 

Even  yet  the  men  composing  this  Board  did  not  have 
faith  enough  in  God  and  their  brethren  to  attempt  inde- 
pendent operations,  and  months  were  wasted  in  futile 
negotiations  with  the  London  Missionary  Society  for 
some  form  of  joint  missionary  enterprise — a  plan  which 
the  English  body  very  sensibly  rejected  as  impracticable. 
There  was  this  excuse  for  the  hesitation  of  the  Board: 
the  time  was  shortly  before  the  war  of  18 12,  when  it  was 
apparent  that  a  conflict  with  England  could  not  long  be 
postponed.  There  was  great  financial  stringency,  espe- 
cially in  New  England,  in  consequence  of  the  Embargo 
Act.  In  view  of  these  facts,  a  degree  of  caution  that  we 
are  likely  in  our  haste  to  condemn  as  cowardly  appeared 
then  to  be  merely  prudent.  But  finally,  a  year  after  its 
formation  (Sept.  11,  1811),  the  Board  plucked  up  spirit 
enough  to  appoint  Messrs.  Judson,  Nott,  and  Hall  as 
missionaries,  and  another  young  man  who  had  joined 
the  group  of  candidates,  Samuel  Newell.  vStill,  there 
were  no  funds  adequate  for  their  support  and  the 
churches  had  made  only  a  feeble  response  to  the  appeals 
of  the  Board.  After  long  deliberation  the  Board  decided 
that  they  would  send  these  young  men  out,  as  it  seemed 

^  A  memorial  setting  forth  the  missionary  purpose  of  these  young  men, 
and  asking  the  advice  of  *'  their  fathers  in  the  church,"  was  signed  by 
Adoniram  Judson,  Samuel  Nott,  Samuel  J.  Mills,  and  Samuel  Newell. 
("  Life  of  Adoniram  Judson,"  by  Edward  Judson,  p.  24.)  The  names  of 
James  Richards  and  Luther  Rice  had  also  been  appended,  but  were  re- 
moved, "  from  a  fear  that  the  appearance  of  so  many  under  such  impres- 
sions of  mind,  when  nothing  had  been  previously  known  of  this  matter,  not 
even  by  the  professors,  whose  pupils  thus  suddenly  burst  forth  in  an  atti- 
tude so  peculiar,  should  create  something  of  the  nature  of  an  alarm,  as  if 
some  kind  of  fanaticism  had  seized  the  minds  all  at  once  of  the  young 
ministers."     (Taylor,  "  Luther  Rice,"  p.  90.) 


ADONIRAM   JUDSON  331 

clearly  the  will  of  God  that  they  should  go;  and  they 
would  trust  God  for  the  provision  of  the  necessary  funds. 
Their  faith  was  honored  by  divine  providence ;  the 
churches  began  to  make  contributions  to  the  treasury, 
and  these  measurably  kept  pace  with  the  needs  of  the 
work.  From  that  day  to  this,  there  has  never  been  a 
serious  financial  difficulty  in  the  missionary  work  of 
American  Christians.     It  was  decided  to  send  these  first-  '  / 

missionaries  to  India.  On  February  6,  1812,  a  memorable  '^^^''^^y' 
service  was  held  in  Salem,  Mass.,  five  candidates  being 
ordained  to  the  ministry;  on  the  nineteenth  Judson  and 
Newell  sailed  from  Salem  for  Calcutta,  and  on  the 
twenty-second  Hall,  Rice,  and  Nott  sailed  from  Philadel- 
phia for  the  same  port. 

The  honor  of  beginning  the  work  of  foreign  missions 
in  America  thus  belongs  to  the  Congregational  churches 
of  New  England,  and  especially  of  Massachusetts.  Other 
denominations  were  not  slow  in  following  the  example 
thus  given.  At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Board  in  181 1 
a  suggestion  was  made  to  the  General  Assembly  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  that  it  organize  a  similar  body,  with 
which  the  Massachusetts  society  might  co-operate.  The 
Assembly  did  not  feel  ready  to  take  such  action,  but 
warmly  expressed  its  sympathy  with  the  work,  and  ac- 
cordingly, at  the  second  meeting  of  1812,  eight  Presby- 
terian Commissioners  were  added  to  the  Board.  Close, 
though  unofficial  relations  were  thus  established  with  the 
Presbyterian  churches,  many  of  which  became  liberal 
contributors  to  the  cause  from  the  first.  In  1814  a  mem- 
ber from  the  Associate  Reformed  Church  was  added,  and 
in  1816  another  was  appointed  from  the  Reformed 
(Dutch)  Church.  Thus  for  some  years  the  American 
Board  performed  the  functions  of  a  general  missionary 
society  for  most  of  the  American  churches  that  could  be 
induced  at  that  time  to  take  an  interest  in  the  work.     It 


332  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

was  in  the  nature  of  the  case,  however,  that  sooner  or 
later  denominational  societies  would  be  formed. 

The  Baptist  churches  were  the  first  to  take  separate 
denominational  action.  They  indeed  narrowly  missed 
the  honor  of  being  pioneers  in  this  work.  As  early  as  the 
year  1800  the  First  Baptist  church  of  Philadelphia  be- 
came exercised  about  this  matter,  and  presented  to  the 
Philadelphia  Association  a  query  as  to  the  propriety  of 
forming  a  plan  for  the  establishment  of  a  missionary 
society.  This  was  two  years  before  the  formation  of  the 
Massachusetts  Baptist  Missionary  Society,  and  is  the  ear- 
liest movement  of  the  kind  among  our  churches  of  which 
a  record  now  remains.  The  Association  adopted  a  minute 
inviting  the  general  committee  of  Virginia  and  the  dif- 
ferent Associations  to  unite  in  laying  a  plan  for  forming 
a  missionary  society,  and  such  an  invitation  was  sent 
out  during  the  year.  To  the  minutes  of  the  Association 
for  1 801  is  appended  a  circular  letter,  in  which  the  duty 
of  Baptists  to  give  the  gospel  to  the  heathen  is  strongly 
urged.  In  1802  it  is  recorded  that  a  general  conference 
seemed  unlikely,  from  which  we  may  fairly  infer  that 
few  or  no  favorable  responses  had  been  received  to  the 
general  invitation  sent  out ;  and  the  Association  therefore 
appointed  a  committee  to  form  a  plan  for  a  local  society, 
which  was  duly  approved  at  the  next  meeting,  and  the 
society  was  soon  after  formally  constituted.  Subsequent 
references  to  the  society  in  the  minutes  show  that  only 
[domestic  missions  were  attempted,  preachers  being  sent 
out  into  the  western  counties  of  Pennsylvania,  and  into 
Ohio.  But  it  is  clear  that  only  the  lukewarmness  and 
inertia  of  the  Baptist  churches  of  that  day  prevented 
the  formation  of  the  first  foreign  mission  society  in 
America  by  this  denomination. 

But  though  the  attempt  to  interest  the  churches  in  a 
general  movement  failed  for  the  time  being,  the  forma- 


ADONIRAM   JUDSON  333 

tion  of  local  societies  went  on.     The  news  of  the  sailing 

of  these  young  men  made  its  way  among  the  churches 

and  everywhere  aroused  great  interest.    The  first  Baptist 

society  for  foreign  missions  distinctively  seems  to  have 

been  formed  in  Salem,  Mass.,  about  the  time  that  Judson 

and  his  companions  sailed,  and  others  soon  followed  in 

Boston,  Providence,  and  Haverhill.     Luther  Rice  is  our  .- .  - 

authority  for  saying  that  at  least  seventeen  such  societies^   ^l_K<ji 

had    been    formed   prior   to   the    national    organization.     -^V^Iwo 

From  these,  no  doubt,  some  form  of  general  organization 

would  have  been  evolved  in  time,  but  Providence  took 

the  matter  in  hand  and  hastened  what  might  have  been 

a  very  slow  process. 

In  September,  1813,  Luther  Rice  landed  in  Boston, 
with  a  remarkable  and  stirring  account  of  what  had  oc- 
curred in  India.  On  the  voyage,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Judson 
had  been  studying  the  question  of  baptism,  in  view  of 
possible  controversy  after  their  arrival  with  the  English 
Baptist  missionaries  whom  they  knew  to  be  at  Calcutta. 
The  more  they  studied  the  less  ground  they  could  find 
for  the  baptism  of  other  than  believers,  or  for  any  bap- 
tism other  than  immersion.  Soon  after  their  arrival  at 
Calcutta,  they  were  immersed  by  one  of  the  English  Bap- 
tist missionaries.  Rev.  William  Ward.  Mr.  Rice,  travel- 
ing by  a  different  ship,  had  passed  through  an  exactly 
similar  experience,  and  he  was  also  baptized.  The  three 
missionaries  recognized  the  fact  that  this  would  compel 
their  separation  from  the  body  that  had  sent  them  out, 
for  while  the  American  Board  was  non-denominational 
it  was  also  non-Baptist.  Temporary  assistance  was  given 
to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Judson  by  the  English  mission,  and  Mr. 
Rice  returned  to  America  to  lay  the  matter  before  the 
Baptists  and  to  ask  them  to  undertake  the  support  of  the 
Judsons. 

In  this  he  was  immediately  successful.     The  Baptists 


334  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

t>^         of  Boston  and  vicinity  became  responsible  for  the  main- 
'     k'      tenance  of  the  Judsons,  but  it  was  plain  that  divine  Provi- 
dence pointed  to  something  larger  than  this.     Mr.  Rice 
was  advised  to  visit  the  principal  cities  and  tell  his  story 
to  all  who  would  hear,  that  the  entire  denomination,  and 
not  Boston  only,  might  be  led  to  take  up  this  work.    He 
needed  no  urging.     It  was  a  service  that  he  was  glad  to 
perform,  and  of  all  men  he  was  most  fitted  to  do  this 
work. 
;^^j-v     In  his  first  tour  he  visited  New  York,  Philadelphia, 
^  ^J^   Baltimore,  Washington,  and  Richmond,  and  thence  ha- 
pJir^^  stened  to  attend  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Charleston 
^  Association.    In  all  these  cities  he  was  favorably  received 

and  the  Charleston  Association  passed  hearty  resolu- 
tions in  favor  of  a  national  society  for  foreign  missions. 
The  tour  was  finally  extended  as  far  south  as  Savannah, 
included  all  the  prominent  towns  of  Georgia  and  South 
Carolina,  and  occupied  six  months.  Societies  were 
formed  in  Philadelphia  and  other  places,  and  on  the  invi- 
tation of  this  Philadelphia  society,  extended  to  all  inter- 
ested in  the  project,  a  convention  met  in  that  city  on  May 
i8,  1814,  and  after  several  days  of  careful  consideration 
of  the  whole  question,  its  members  unanimously  voted  to 
organize  the  '*  General  Convention  of  the  Baptist  denomi- 
nation in  the  United  States  for  Foreign  Missions." 

Luther  Rice  never  returned  to  India,  but  spent  his  re- 
maining years  in  organizing  and  promoting  various  mis- 
sionary and  educational  enterprises.  Among  other  things, 
he  was  the  founder  and  long  the  chief  support  of  the  Col- 
umbian University,  at  Washington.  But  he  regarded  his 
life  as  "  religiously  devoted  to  the  missionary  cause,"  and 
all  his  labors  were  intended  by  him  to  be  closely  related 
to  that  cause.  If  he  became  much  absorbed  for  some 
years  in  an  educational  project,  it  was  because  in  his  mind 
and  purpose  one  of  the  chief  ends  of  such  an  institution 


ADONIRAM   JUDSON  335 

was  to  be  the  training  of  men  for  missionary  service.  ^.^ 

And  it  may  well  be  that  he  did  a  more  important  and  ?if'^^ jjj. 
permanent  service  to  the  missionary  cause  by  remaining  -M 
in  this  country  and  organizing  the  domestic  side  of  the 
work  than  he  could  possibly  have  rendered  in  India. 
Some  men  must  hold  the  ropes,  if  others  are  to  go  down 
into  the  mine,  and  both  are  laborers  in  a  common  cause. 

The  Judsons  were  not  permitted  by  the  British  East 
India  Company  to  fulfil  their  purpose  of  missionary  labors 
in  the  land  of  their  first  choice,  and  they  were  compelled 
to  seek  another  field.  Their  choice  fell  on  Burma,  and 
they  began  a  mission  in  that  country  in  July,  1813.  There 
were  serious  difficulties  to  be  overcome.  The  first  con- 
vert was  not  baptized  until  six  years  had  passed ;  and  the 
missionaries  were  compelled  to  undergo  frightful  priva- 
tions, persecutions,  and  sufferings.  There  is  no  more 
heroic  chapter  in  all  missionary  annals  than  the  story  of 
the  early  years  of  the  Burman  mission.  But  perhaps 
Doctor  Judson's  greatest  work  was  not  that  of  preacher, 
but  as  translator.  He  lived  long  enough  to  give  the  entire 
Bible  to  the  Burmese  in  their  own  language.  His  ver- 
sion is  highly  praised  by  those  competent  to  speak,  alike 
for  its  faithfulness  and  for  its  elegance;  and  its  value  is 
attested  by  the  fact  that  it  still  holds  its  place,  with  little 
change,  as  the  one  Bible  for  all  Burmese  Christians. 

Doctor  Judson's  missionary  labors  continued  for  thirty- 
seven  years,  and  are  memorable  in  the  history  of  Chris- 
tian missions.  The  visible  results  upon  his  field,  meas- 
ured by  the  number  of  heathen  converted  and  of  con- 
verts baptized  and  gathered  into  churches,  while  by  no 
means  small,'  have  often  been  surpassed,  but  this  is  no 
measure  of  a  missionary's  accomplishment.  He  was  a 
man  of  great  intellectual  power,  and  of  still  greater  spir- 

1  At    his    death    there    were    sixty-three    churches    under    the    oversight    of  '/\ 

one  hundred  and   sixty-three   missionaries   and   native   helpers. 


336  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

itual  force,  and  the  profound  impression  that  such  a  man 
makes  upon  the  missionary  cause  at  home  as  well  as 
abroad,  not  only  during  his  own  lifetime  but  for  genera- 
tions to  come,  cannot  be  easily  estimated.  His  life  was  a 
significant  object-lesson  in  the  meaning  and  methods  of 
Christian  missions,  that  will  always  have  value  for  the 
whole  Christian  church,  and  his  example  has  been  the 
inspiration  of  countless  missionaries  since  his  day.  Thej 
power  of  such  lives  is  never  spent. 

The  graves  of  the  sainted  dead  forbid  retreat  from  the  ram- 
parts of  heathenism.  It  is  said  that  the  heart  of  the  Scottish 
hero  Bruce  was  embalmed  after  his  death  and  preserved  in  a 
silver  casket.  When  his  descendants  were  making  a  last  des- 
perate charge  upon  the  serried  columns  of  the  Saracens,  their 
leader  threw  this  sacred  heart  far  out  into  the  ranks  of  the 
enemy.  The  Scots  charged  with  irresistible  fury  in  order  to 
regain  the  relic.  Christianity  will  never  retreat  from  the  graves 
of  its  dead  on  heathen  shores.  England  is  pressing  into  Africa 
with  redoubled  energy  since  she  saw  placed  on  the  pavement  of 
her  own  Westminster  Abbey  the  marble  tablet  in  memory  of  him 
who  was  "brought  by  faithful  hands,  over  land  and  sea,  David 
Livingstone,  missionary,  traveler,  philanthropist."  Until  that  day 
shall  come  when  every  knee  shall  bow  and  every  tongue  confess 
the  name  of  Jesus,  Christian  hearts  will  not  cease  to  draw 
inspiration  from  the  memory  of  those  who  found  their  last 
resting-place  under  the  hopia  tree  at  Amherst,  on  the  rocky  shore 
of  St.  Helena,  and  beneath  the  waves  of  the  Indian  Ocean.^ 

Other  denominations  were  not  slow  in  following  the 
example  of  the  Congregationalists  and  Baptists.  The 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  established  a  society  for  for- 
eign missions  in  1819,  and  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church  made  an  attempt  to  engage  in  foreign  missions  in 
1820.  The  society  founded  was,  however,  hardly  more 
than  a  formal  organization  until  1835,  when  the  real  mis- 
sionary  enterprises   of  this   church   were   begun.     The 

* "  Life  of  Adoniram  Judson,"  by  his  son,  Edward  Judson  (closing 
paragraph). 


ADONIRAM   JUDSON  337 

**  thirties  "  were  prolific  in  the  formation  of  missionary 
societies :  the  Reformed  Presbyterian  and  the  Reformed 
German  Churches  organizing  in   1836;  the  Presbyterian 
Church  estabhshing  its  separate  Board  for  Foreign  Mis-  :,v 
sions  in   1837;  the  Lutherans   following  in   1839.     The 
cause  had  now  gained  such  momentum  that  the  multiplica- 
tion   of   societies  became   rapid,  until   every  evangelical     ...-^^^^ 
denomination    was    provided   with    its    own    missionary.     'aAjtr^j^ 
machinery. 

The  foreign  missionary  enterprise  was  thus  the  first  to  * 

engage  the  interest  and  effort  of  American  churches,  and  A-^^^-"-^ 
the  first  to  be  supported  by  organized  methods  of  more  f  '  , 
than  local  scope.  Without  doubt,  in  process  of  time  the  I,  /^^>^ 
needs  of  the  home  field  would  have  developed  societies  ^/sP^o^trv 
for  the  prosecution  of  domestic  missions,  had  no  zeal  for  ^^.^^^c-t^^^ 
work  among  the  heathen  been  aroused ;  but  there  can  be  ^  ^Xun^ 
no  question  that  a  powerful  impulse  toward  all  other  >6i^<£,  Sa 
forms  of  missionary  labor  was  given  by  the  increasing  ^^^^22i'/ 
vigor  with  which  foreign  missions  were  pressed. 

Small  beginnings  in  domestic  missions  there  had  been 
from  1800  onward,  or  perhaps  even  earlier,  among  Bap- 
tists, Methodists,  and  Presbyterians.  Often  these  mis- 
sionary beginnings  were  due  to  the  apostolic  zeal  and 
courage  of  single  men  who,  without  formal  commission 
and  with  no  pledge  of  support,  went  into  the  new  commu- 
nities then  establishing  themselves  to  the  westward  of  the 
Alleghanies,  carrying  their  library,  wardrobe,  and  entire 
earthly  possessions  in  their  saddle-bags.  The  Associa- 
tions of  Baptist  churches  not  infrequently  commissioned 
a  man  and  sent  him  out  with  a  small  salary.  The  Metho- 
dist Conferences  and  the  Presbyterian  General  Assem- 
blies did  the  same.  Into  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois,  into 
Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Missouri,  and  Mississippi,  these 
missionary  preachers  pressed,  and  were  abundantly  suc- 
cessful in  establishing  churches  and  Sunday-schools.  As 
w 


338  CHRISTIAN    ErOCH-MAKERS 

State  organizations  of  the  various  denominations  began 
to  multiply,  these  also  took  up  the  work  of  sending  out 
missionaries  into  the  new  States.  The  final  step  was 
inevitable,  and  could  not  be  long  delayed.  In  the  second 
decade  of  the  last  century  began  the  formation  of  home 
mission  societies,  national  in  scope  and  soon  to  become 
national  in  membership. 

The  Presbyterian  Church  seems  to  have  taken  the  lead 
in  this  enterprise,  by  formally  constituting  in  1816  a  per- 
manent Board  of  Missions,  instead  of  the  committee  that 
had  been  appointed  from  year  to  year  to  supervise  its 
domestic  missions.  The  Methodist  Missionary  Society 
was  formed  in  1819  to  give  greater  efficiency  to  the  work 
that  had  been  done  by  the  several  conferences.  The 
Baptist  Triennial  Convention  soon  after  its  organization 
undertook  the  work  of  home  as  well  as  foreign  missions, 
but  in  1832  the  work  was  divided;  the  American  Baptist 
Home  Mission  Society  was  formed  in  New  York,  and 
assumed  not  only  the  work  done  by  the  convention,  but 
also  enterprises  that  had  been  conducted  by  many  State 
and  local  bodies. 

Besides  these  and  similar  denominational  societies, 
others  were  formed  of  an  interdenominational  character, 
chief  among  which  was  the  American  Home  Mission 
Society,  constituted  in  1826  by  representatives  of  Congre- 
gational, Presbyterian,  and  Reformed  churches.  It  grad- 
ually lost  its  interdenominational  character,  not  by  any 
change  in  its  methods  and  principles,  but  by  the  natural 
withdrawal  of  its  Presbyterian  and  Reformed  supporters, 
who  preferred  to  co-operate  with  their  own  denomina- 
tional Boards,  and  in  1893  the  fact  was  legally  recognized 
that  it  had  become  a  strictly  Congregational  body.  In  later 
years  this  work  has  spread  so  widely  among  the  churches 
of  all  Christian  faiths,  that  to  give  even  a  brief  account 
of    all    the    societies    that    have    developed    from    these 


ADONIRAM   JUDSON  339 

beginnings  would  require  a  volume  of  no  small  propor- 
tions. 

There  are  other  interesting  results  of  the  foreign 
missionary  movement  of  which  a  word  might  be  profit- 
ably said.  The  founding  of  local  Bible  societies  preceded  - 
the  missionary  organizations,  and  doubtless  one  or  more 
national  societies  for  this  work  would  sooner  or  later  have 
come  into  being,  if  there  had  been  no  sentiment  for  for- 
eign missions.  But  in  several  ways  the  work  of  missions 
stimulated  the  work  of  Bible  distribution,  and  still  more 
the  work  of  Bible  translation.  It  was  reports  made  by 
Samuel  J.  Mills,  of  the  haystack  prayer  meeting,  con- 
cerning the  Bible  destitution  he  had  found  in  the  course 
of  some  domestic  missionary  labors  that  had  much  to  do 
with  the  formation  of  the  American  Bible  Society  in  1816. 
And  of  the  more  than  eighty  versions,  in  various  lan- 
guages and  dialects,  now  printed  and  circulated  by  that 
society,  who  believes  that  a  dozen  would  ever  have  been 
made,  but  for  the  labors  of  foreign  missionaries?  An 
inseparable  part  of  preaching  the  gospel  to  all  the  world 
has  been  the  giving  of  the  Scriptures  to  all  the  world  in 
the  great  variety  of  spoken  tongues.  The  annual  circula- 
tion of  nearly  two  million  copies  of  the  Scriptures  (in- 
cluding portions)  and  of  seventy-five  million  copies  since 
the  formation  of  the  society,  is  a  work  to  be  reckoned  for 
the  most  part  a  by-product  of  the  great  foreign  missionary 
enterprise. 

And  who  will  furnish  scales  or  yardstick  that  can 
adequately  measure  the  thousand  other  ways  in  which  the 
reflex  influence  of  foreign  missions  has  stimulated  and 
inspired  our  American  churches  ?  It  was  the  very  breath  ^ 
of  life  to  churches  of  the  congregational  polity.  Bap- 
tists and  Congregationalists  owe,  if  not  their  existence, 
at  least  their  coherence  and  unity  and  progress,  largely 
to  this  missionary  effort  which  first  gave  them  a  bond  of 


340  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

union  and  which  has  always  continued  to  be  the  chief 
bond  that  holds  them  together.     But  to  other  churches  it 
was  only  less  helpful.    The  nineteenth  century  witnessed 
the  most  marvelous   development  of   religious   life  and 
religious  institutions  here  in  the  United  States  that  the 
world  has  ever  seen.     Nothing  in  the  eighteen  centuries 
preceding  furnishes  even  an  approximate  parallel.     The 
century  began  with  one  Christian  to  every  fourteen  of  the , 
population ;  it  closed  with  a  Christian  to  every  three  of  the 
population.    And  this  counts  as  Christians  only  those  who 
are  actual  enrolled  members  of  the  churches.    Of  course, 
a  very  considerable  part  of  this  increase,  especially  in  the 
case  of  the  Roman  Catholic  and  Lutheran  churches,  has 
been  due  to  immigration,  but  making  all  allowance  for 
this,  the  progress  among  the  native  populations  has  been 
immense.     And  it  cannot  be  doubted  that,  if  American 
•Christians   had   selfishly  shut  up  their  hearts   and   ears 
against  the  cry  of  the  perishing  heathen,  there  would  be 
a  very  different  history  to  relate.    There  is  that  scattereth 
and  yet  increaseth — mightily. 
^^^■'    This  development  has  been  most  notable  since  1850,  and 
j^X,j^the  last  half -century  has  also  been  precisely  the  period 
^     ^       of  greatest  expansion  in  foreign  missions.    In  1850  all  the 
'i^  American   societies   had   four   hundred   and   thirty-eight 

missionaries  in  the  foreign  field,  while  in  1890  the  num- 
ber was  two  thousand  six  hundred  and  ninety-five.  The 
number  of  communicants  in  churches  gathered  from 
among  the  heathen  was  forty-seven  thousand  two  hundred 
and  sixty-six  in  1850,  and  had  risen  to  three  hundred  and 
ninety-eight  thousand  and  ninety-seven  in  1900.  The 
average  yearly  receipts  in  the  decade  from  1850- 1860 
were  $842,728  for  all  the  missionary  societies  then  exist- 
ing in  the  United  States,  while  in  1900  the  sum  of  $14,- 
500,000  was  reported  as  given  for  foreign  missions  by  our 
churches.     These   figures   apply   to   Protestant   missions 


ADONIRAM   JUDSON  34I 

only.  Surely  this  is  a  development  of  this  work  for  which 
we  may  well  thank  God  and  take  courage. 

The  most  hopeful  feature  of  recent  missionary  history 
is  the  Student  Volunteer  movement.  It  originated  in  a 
conference  of  Christian  college  students  at  Mount  Her- 
mon,  Mass.,  in  1886.  Twenty-one  of  the  two  hundred 
and  fifty  delegates  present  were  men  who  expected  to 
become  foreign  missionaries,  but  before  the  conference 
closed  one  hundred  men  had  indicated  their  purpose  to 
become  foreign  missionaries  if  God  should  open  the  way. 
Mr.  Robert  P.  Wilder  was  deputed  to  visit  the  colleges 
and  theological  seminaries  to  arouse  missionary  senti- 
ment among  the  students,  and  in  the  following  year  visited 
one  hundred  and  seventy-six  institutions,  meeting  with 
instant  general  response  to  his  appeals.  At  the  present 
time,  nearly  a  thousand  institutions  have  been  reached 
by  the  movement,  in  more  than  half  of  which  classes  for 
the  systematic  study  of  foreign  missions  are  now  found 
in  successful  operation.  Nearly  two  thousand  volun- 
teers, directly  influenced  to  offer  themselves  through  this 
movement,  have  already  gone  to  the  foreign  field,  and 
there  are  at  least  five  times  as  many  students  in  our  col- 
leges and  seminaries  preparing  themselves  for  missionary 
service  as  were  found  in  the  same  institutions  before  the 
beginning  of  the  movement.  Not  only  so,  but  the  men 
who  have  gone  into  the  home  field  during  the  last  two 
decades  have  been  more  fully  informed  about  missions, 
and  as  pastors  have  done  more  to  sustain  the  work  of  our 
representatives  abroad. 

A  considerable  literature  has  been  produced  to  meet  the 
needs  of  these  students,  and  a  great  increase  of  intelligent 
study  of  missions  has  resulted  in  all  the  churches.  Not 
only  has  there  been  marked  advance  in  the  number  and 
character  of  missionary  candidates,  as  a  result  of  these 
methods,  but  the  missionary  sentiment  of  all  the  churches 


342  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

has  been  quickened  and  made  much  more  healthful.  This 
has  been  especially  true  of  the  young  people,  and  it  cer- 
tainly must  be  held  to  augur  well  for  the  future  of  mis- 
sions that  the  great  young  people's  movement,  beginning 
in  1 88 1,  has  been  so  closely  allied  from  the  outset  to  the 
work  of  missions  at  home  and  abroad.  The  leaders  of 
this  movement  have  uniformly  exerted  themselves  to 
secure  the  inculcation  of  accurate  knowledge  of  the  his- 
tory and  methods  of  missions  as  a  regular  feature  of  all 
young  people's  organizations,  and  with  a  success  wholly 
gratifying.  The  monthly  missionary  meeting  is  a  feature 
of  thousands  of  prayer  meetings  of  young  Christians  to- 
day. 

In  no  chapter  of  the  history  of  Christian  missions  has 
the  leading  of  divine  Providence  been  more  clearly  mani- 
fest than  in  these  beginnings  of  the  work  in  America  and 
the  things  whereunto  they  have  grown.  Who  that  studies 
this  history  can  doubt  that  this  is  God's  doing,  and  that 
we  have  in  this  great  advance  an  earnest  of  the  final 
triumph  of  our  King? 

His  name  shall  endure  forever ; 

His  name  shall  be  continued  as  long  as  the  sun; 

And  men  shall  be  blessed  in  him; 

All  nations  shall  call  him  happy. 


XVIII 

LIVINGSTONE:    LIGHT-BEARER  TO 
THE   DARK   CONTINENT 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

The  sources  for  the  life  of  Livingstone  are  his  Missionary 
Travels  and  Researches  (London,  1857)  ;  Narrative  of  an  Expe- 
dition to  the  Zambesi  (London,  1865)  ;  and  Last  Journals  of 
David  Livingstone  (New  York,  1874).  Next  to  these,  Stanley's 
How  I  Found  Livingstone  (New  York,  1891)  is  most  valuable. 
Blaikie's  Personal  Life  of  David  Livingstone  is,  on  the  whole, 
the  best  biography  (London,  1888).  Others  of  varying  interest 
and  value  are  by  Adams  (New  York,  n.  d.),  Chambliss  (Phila- 
delphia, 1875),  Hughes  (London,  1891),  Maclachlen  (New  York, 
1901).  On  the  value  of  his  work  as  an  explorer,  see  Johnston's 
Livingstone  and  the  Exploration  of  Central  Africa  (London, 
1891).  The  best  general  work  on  African  missions  is  Noble's 
Redemption  of  Africa  (two  vols..  New  York,  1899)  J  brief  but 
excellent  sketches  are :  Stewart's  Dawn  in  the  Dark  Continent 
(New  York,  1904),  Naylor's  Daybreak  in  the  Dark  Continent 
(Chicago,  1905),  and  Parsons'  Christus  Liberator  (New  York, 
1905).  Stock's  Story  of  Uganda  should  by  all  means  be  read 
(New  York,  1892).  Of  biographies  of  missionaries  no  one 
should  fail  to  read  at  least  those  of  Robert  and  Mary  Moffat, 
by  their  son  (New  York,  1885),  Mackay  of  Uganda,  by  his  sis- 
ter (New  York,  1890),  and  Dawson's  Bishop  Hannington  (New 
York,  1887),  as  these  are  invaluable.  Two  books  lately  published 
may  be  added,  as  compact,  cheap,  and  useful :  Montefiore's  David 
Livingstone  in  the  "  World's  Benefactors "  series,  and  Deane's 
Robert  Moffat  in  the  "  Missionary  Series,"  both  pubHshed  by 
Revell,  New  York. 


XVIII 

LIVINGSTONE  :  LIGHT-BEARER  TO  THE  DARK  CONTINENT 

NOT  without  reason  has  Africa  been  called  the  Dark 
Continent — not  without  many  good  reasons.  There 
was  our  ignorance  of  it,  first  of  all.  Strange  indeed  it  is 
that  the  greatest  of  the  continents,  save  Asia,  with  an 
area  of  eleven  million  five  hundred  thousand  square  miles 
— more  than  one-fifth  of  the  habitable  globe — should 
have  remained  an  unknown  land  up  to  a  time  within  our 
memories.  Except  the  Mediterranean  littoral  and  a  fringe 
of  land  bordering  on  the  ocean,  this  country  was  still  as 
much  terra  incognita  to  our  fathers  as  it  was  to  Greeks 
and  Romans.  Even  on  the  school-atlas  of  my  boyhood, 
the  greater  part  of  the  continent  was  a  wide  yellow  blank, 
with  the  words  "  Unexplored  Interior  "  printed  in  large 
capitals  across  it.  How  different  the  case  to-day !  Little 
remains  to  be  added  to  our  geographical  knowledge  of 
Africa,  some  few  relatively  unimportant  details. 

It  was  a  Dark  Continent  also  because  of  the  barbarism 
and  degradation  of  its  inhabitants.  The  abundance  of 
food  in  Africa  and  the  ease  with  which  it  is  obtained  kept 
that  land  in  a  prolonged  period  of  barbarism.  Civiliza- 
tion has  advanced  only  where  man  has  had  to  struggle 
for  existence,  and  where  the  struggle  has  been  most  in- 
tense the  advance  has  been  most  rapid.  There  was  no 
struggle  in  Africa,  and  it  has  therefore  remained  in  the 
stone  age,  while  the  rest  of  the  world  has  climbed  the 
hard  upward  road  to  enlightenment.  Among  its  various 
people  have  been  found  no  domesticated  animals,  save  a 
few  miserable  curs  which  it  would  be  base  flattery  to  call 

345 


346  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

dogs;  nor  have  they  possessed  any  cultivated  plants  or 
trees.  Where  fruits,  nuts,  and  grains  grew  wild  in  greater 
abundance  than  men  needed,  where  game  was  so  plen- 
tiful that  it  almost  asked  to  be  caught,  where  the  climate 
made  clothing  a  superfluous  luxury,  indeed,  a  burden — 
why  should  people  labor  to  grow  and  fashion  things? 
The  greater  part  of  Africa  is  accordingly  still  in  the 
lowest  conceivable  state  of  savagery. 

It  was  a  Dark  Continent  because  what  little  religion  it 
possessed  was  almost  worse  than  none.  Since  the  Mo- 
hammedan invasion  of  a.  d.  640  the  Mediterranean  lit- 
toral and  a  considerable  part  of  the  interior  have  been 
given  over  to  the  religion  of  the  Koran.  And  one  may, 
with  little  or  no  exaggeration,  apply  to  the  missions  of  the 
Mohammedans  among  the  natives  of  Africa,  the  sting- 
ing words  addressed  by  our  Lord  to  the  Pharisees  of  his 
day,  ''  Ye  compass  sea  and  land  to  make  one  proselyte, 
and  when  he  has  become  so,  ye  make  him  twofold  more 
a  son  of  hell  than  yourselves."  Islam  grafted  upon 
African  fetichism  brings  forth  fruit  neither  to  the  praise 
of  God  nor  to  the  good  of  man.  Wherever  it  goes  in  its 
train  follow  slavery,  polygamy,  and  kindred  evils,  per- 
manently entrenched  under  the  protection  of  religion. 
The  worst  enemy  that  the  Christian  missionary  has  to 
meet  is  one  who  holds  this  hybrid  faith. 

Christian  missions  have  often  been  the  advance-guard 
of  commerce  and  civilization,  and  Christian  missionaries 
have  many  times  been  the  first  to  set  foot  in  regions  of 
darkness  and  barbarism  that  later  were  opened  to  the  in- 
fluences of  culture  and  refinement.  Dennis '  has  given  us 
many  instructive  and  inspiring  instances  of  this,  but  there 
has  been  no  more  striking  and  impressive  instance  of  the 
widely  beneficent  influence  of  Christian  missions  than  the 

*  Dennis,  "  Christian  Missions  and  Social  Progress,"  two  vols.,  New 
York,  1899. 


LIVINGSTONE  347 

evangelization  of  Africa  affords.  It  is  true  that  these 
material  benefits  are  purely  incidental  to  the  missionary 
enterprise — its  by-products  only — but  men  of  business  are 
now  telling  us  that  the  by-products  of  a  great  concern 
have  become  a  chief  source  of  profit.  Christian  men  have 
ever  seen  in  Africa  a  most  attractive  missionary  field,  in 
spite  of  its  darkness,  perhaps  rather  because  of  its  dark- 
ness. While  the  world  has  beheld  in  Africa  a  bonanza — 
a  rich  country  whose  value  was  unknown  to  its  inhabit- 
ants, a  mine  of  wealth  to  be  exploited  by  the  shrewder 
peoples  of  America  and  Europe,  Christians  have  seen  in 
this  land  a  bonanza  also,  the  country  offering  largest  op- 
portunities for  missionary  effort  in  the  world  at  the 
present  time,  and  perhaps  also  promising  the  largest  and 
quickest  returns  for  the  labor  and  money  expended. 

Christian  missions  in  Africa  are  no  new  thing;  they 
began  long  ago,  and  it  is  the  shame  of  Christendom  that 
they  came  to  so  little  until  lately.  So  far  back  as  1752 
Moravian  missionaries  entered  Egypt,  and  even  earlier 
they  had  a  representative  in  South  Africa,  but  it  cannot 
be  said  that  they  made  much  progress  in  either  region, 
and  their  eft'orts  became  diverted  to  other  countries. 
Christian  missions  seem  really  to  have  begun  with  the 
going  to  South  Africa  of  Robert  and  Mary  Moffat,  in 
18 1 6.  Though  of  Scotch  parentage  it  was  through  the 
Moravians  that  he  was  led  to  become  a  missionary,  and 
he  was  sent  out  by  the  London  Missionary  Society.  He 
was  very  successful  among  the  Bechuanas  and  Mahta- 
beles,  and  his  translation  of  the  Bible  into  Bechuana, 
printed  in  1857,  was  the  first  version  of  the  Scriptures 
made  in  modern  times  for  natives  of  Africa.  He  found 
these  people  degraded  and  murderous  savages;  when  he 
left  them  in  1870,  enfeebled  by  age  and  broken  by  labors 
amid  great  hardships,  they  had  a  written  language  and  the 
beginnings  of  a  native  literature,  thousands  had  become 


348  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

Christians  and  whole  tribes  were  beginning  to  live  a 
civilized  life. 

Moffat's  labors  and  their  results  were,  however,  too 
little  appreciated  at  the  time,  outside  of  Great  Britain  at 
any  rate.  The  man  who  was  to  fix  the  eyes  of  the  world 
on  Africa  and  become  the  creator  of  a  new  missionary 
epoch,  was  nearly  twenty  years  Moffat's  junior,  and  first 
reached  South  Africa  when  the  older  missionary's  labors 
were  more  than  half  spent.  This  was  David  Livingstone, 
born  at  Blantyre,  near  Glasgow,  March  19,  1813.  The 
poverty  of  his  family  drove  him  to  seek  employment  in  a 
cotton  mill  at  the  age  of  ten.  His  work  began  at  six 
A.  M.  and  lasted  until  eight  p.  m.,  but  out  of  his  first 
week's  wages  he  bought  an  elementary  Latin  grammar, 
and  at  once  began  his  study  of  that  language.  Such  things 
are  said  to  be  not  uncommon  among  the  Scotch  peas- 
antry, but  among  what  other  peasantry  of  the  world  could 
one  look  for  a  like  incident?  By  the  time  he  was  sixteen, 
David  could  read  his  Vergil  and  Horace  easily,  and  had 
made  some  progress  in  science  as  well,  especially  in  botany 
and  geology.  Much  of  his  early  reading  was  carried  on, 
he  tells  us,  *'  by  placing  the  book  on  a  portion  of  the  spin- 
ning-jenney,  so  that  I  could  catch  sentence  after  sentence 
as  I  paused  at  my  work.  I  thus  kept  a  pretty  constant 
study,  undisturbed  by  the  roar  of  machinery.  To  this," 
he  adds,  "  I  owe  the  power  of  completely  abstracting  my 
mind,  so  as  to  read  and  write  with  perfect  comfort  amidst 
the  play  of  children  or  the  dancing  and  song  of  savages." 
At  the  same  time  he  was  no  unnatural  bookworm,  but  a 
thorough  boy,  an  active  lad  fond  of  all  sports  and  pro- 
ficient in  most.  But  such  grit  and  perseverance  as  this 
were  sure  to  bring  their  reward,  not  only  in  learning,  but 
in  the  building  up  of  a  sturdy,  self-reliant  character. 

Livingstone  was  no  prodigy  of  early  piety.  He  received 
a  careful  Christian  training,  but  to  the  great  distress  of 


LIVINGSTONE  349 

his  parents  he  preferred  scientific  to  reHgious  reading. 
The  last  time  his  father  whipped  him  was  for  his  obsti- 
nate refusal  to  read  a  pious  but  dull  book,  Wilberforce's 
"  Practical  Christianity."  The  parent  was  more  in  fault 
than  the  child.  Always  reticent  about  himself  and  his 
personal  experiences,  Livingstone  has  left  little  account 
of  his  youthful  religious  exercises,  and  the  exact  time 
of  his  conversion  is  unknown.  While  still  only  a  lad, 
however,  he  had  come  to  know  the  history  of  the  early 
Moravian  missions,  and  the  life  of  Henry  Martyn,  and 
had  determined  to  give  all  his  surplus  earnings  to  mis- 
sions. But  the  reading  of  an  appeal  to  the  churches  of 
England  and  America  by  Charles  Butzlafif,  a  medical  mis- 
sionary to  China,  decided  him  to  devote,  not  his  money 
merely,  but  his  life  to  the  work  of  missions. 

The  Scotch  churches  had  not  yet  become  awakened  to 
their  duty  to  the  cause  of  missions,  and  had  no  missionary 
society.  At  the  age  of  twenty  Livingstone  offered  himself 
to  the  London  Missionary  Society,  and  was  accepted  on 
probation.  With  their  aid  he  pursued  studies  in  theology 
and  medicine,  and  in  November,  1840,  was  admitted  a 
licentiate  of  the  faculty  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  of 
the  University  of  Glasgow.  In  the  same  month  he  was 
ordained  in  London,  and  on  December  8  sailed  for  Algoa 
Bay.  He  had  at  first  been  bent  on  going  to  China,  but  an 
interview  with  Doctor  Moffat,  then  in  England  on  fur- 
lough, decided  him  to  go  to  Africa,  "  where,"  said  the 
veteran,  "  on  a  clear  morning  I  have  seen  the  smoke  of  a 
thousand  villages  and  no  missionary  has  ever  been."  It 
is  characteristic  of  him  that  on  the  voyage  he  learned  the 
use  of  sextant  and  quadrant,  and  the  method  of  *'  taking 
observations  "  and  working  out  the  latitude  and  longi- 
tude— knowledge  that  was  of  the  utmost  value  to  him  in 
the  labors  of  his  later  years. 

When  he  arrived  in  South  Africa  he  found  no  definite 


350  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

instructions  as  to  his  field  of  labor,  and  for  a  time  he 
remained  at  some  of  the  stations  already  established, 
spending  no  small  part  of  his  time  in  the  practice  of 
medicine.  He  acquired  the  native  language  easily,  and 
learned  something  of  even  greater  value,  the  art  of  deal- 
ing with  savages.  This  art,  in  his  case,  consisted  largely 
in  the  consistent  practice  of  the  Christian  virtues  of  kind- 
ness, truthfulness,  and  honesty.  His  medical  skill  was 
considerable,  and  proved  the  most  direct  road  to  the  hearts 
of  the  people.  After  a  few  months  he  writes  home :  "  I 
have  an  immense  practice ;  patients  walk  one  hundred  and 
thirty  miles  for  my  advice.  This  is  the  country  for  a 
medical  man,  but  he  must  leave  fees  out  of  the  question." 
After  some  months  of  this  preliminary  work,  he  re- 
ceived the  desired  permission  from  home  to  undertake 
new  missionary  work  farther  north,  where  no  one  had 
yet  preached  the  gospel.  He  established  his  first  station 
at  Mabatsa,  among  the  Bakatlas,  about  two  hundred 
miles  from  Kuruman,  hitherto  the  most  advanced  mission 
station.  It  was  while  here  that  he  was  attacked  by  a 
lion  that  he  had  fatally  wounded,  and  had  a  narrow  escape 
from  instant  death,  but  escaped  with  a  torn  shoulder  and 
shattered  left  arm.  The  arm  healed  in  such  a  way  as  to 
produce  a  false  joint.  After  his  recovery  he  had  the 
good  fortune  to  win  as  his  wife  Mary,  the  eldest  daughter 
of  Doctor  Moffat.  Not  long  after,  to  avoid  controversy 
with  a  brother  missionary,  they  removed  to  a  new  station 
about  forty  miles  farther  north,  where  they  began  a  new 
work,  the  first  step  being  the  building  of  a  new  home,  a 
church,  etc.  A  pioneer  missionary's  work  is  not  all 
preaching  the  gospel,  as  the  letters  of  this  period  prove. 
This  is  one  of  his  vivid  descriptions  of  their  varied 
occupations : 

Building,  gardening,  cobbling,  doctoring,  tinkering,  carpenter- 
ing, gun-mending,  farriering,  wagon-mending,  preaching,  school- 


LIVINGSTONE  351 

ing,  lecturing  on  physics  according  to  my  means,  besides  a  chair 
in  divinity  to  a  class  of  three  to  fill  up  my  time.  .  .  My  wife 
made  candles,  soap,  and  clothes,  and  thus  we  had  nearly  attained 
to  the  indispensable  accomplishments  of  a  missionary  family  in 
Central  Africa — the  husband  a  jack-of -all-trades  without  doors, 
and  the  wife  a  maid-of-all-work  within. 

,  It  does  not  appear  ever  to  have  occurred  to  Livingstone 
to  think  the  jack-of-all-trades  was  less  a  servant  of  God 
than  the  preacher.  There  was  a  fair  amount  of  preach- 
ing withal,  but  less  of  practising  medicine  than  at  first, 
he  finding  it  necessary  to  undertake  serious  cases  only,  if 
he  would  not  have  the  missionary  completely  disappear 
in  the  doctor. 

The  first  convert  at  the  new  station  was  the  chief  of  the 
tribe,  Sechele,  who  remained  the  fast  friend  of  Living- 
stone to  the  end.  Among  the  people  he  made  progress 
more  slowly  than  this  promising  beginning  indicated,  and 
at  length  all  progress  was  stopped  by  a  drouth  that  lasted 
four  years.  The  people  suffered  greatly  and,  as  was  per- 
haps natural  for  superstitious  savages,  came  to  the  con- 
clusion that  the  missionary  had  bewitched  their  chief  and 
country.  Sechele,  after  his  conversion,  had  stopped  the 
incantations  of  the  rain-makers,  and  continued  inflexible 
when  his  people  besought  him  to  permit  their  conjurers  to 
"  make  a  few  showers."  Still,  the  natives  treated  the 
missionary  and  his  family  with  kindness  throughout  the 
long  trial.  They  migrated  to  another  place,  Kolobeng,  on 
a  river  of  that  name,  but  finally  this  too  became  dry. 
There  was  nothing  for  the  tribe  to  do  but  migrate  again, 
and  as  for  Livingstone  himself  he  resolved  to  push  yet 
further  northward,  where  he  had  heard  from  certain 
natives  that  a  great  lake  was  supposed  to  exist. 

Accompanied  by  an  Englishman  named  Oswell,  who 
had  come  on  a  hunting  expedition  to  this  new  country, 
and  escorted  by  a  number  of  the  Bakwains,  the  party 


352  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

set  out.  They  encountered  great  dangers  and  privations 
in  their  journey  across  the  desert,  but  they  finally  reached 
Lake  Ngami,  the  first  white  men  to  gaze  upon  its  waters. 
His  belief  that  in  this  region  there  were  many  tribes, 
offering  an  inviting  field  for  missionary  labors,  was  con- 
firmed, but  it  was  some  time  before  he  was  able  to  pene- 
trate farther  north.  In  the  meantime  the  Royal  Geo- 
graphical Society  awarded  him  a  prize  of  twenty-five 
guineas  for  this,  the  first  of  his  great  discoveries.  This 
immediate  recognition  of  the  value  of  his  work  may  have 
been  the  unconscious  turning-point  in  his  life. 

He  did  not  consciously  and  deliberately  undertake  the 
career  of  explorer,  however,  but  was  gradually  led  into  it 
by  a  succession  of  providential  circumstances.  After 
nearly  two  years,  when  he  had  succeeded  in  penetrating 
into  the  region  north  of  Lake  Ngami,  he  found  the  people 
friendly,  and  the  chief  welcomed  him  warmly.  These 
people,  the  Makololo,  he  always  afterward  considered 
the  best  of  the  African  peoples  he  had  known,  and  he 
was  continually  comparing  others  to  them,  usually  much 
to  the  discredit  of  the  others.  But  the  region,  to  his  great 
disappointment,  proved  unhealthful,  and  his  family  were 
unable  to  remain  there.  He  resolved  to  send  them  to  Eng- 
land, while  he  would  attempt  to  find  a  more  healthful  sta- 
tion in  the  interior,  with  a  path  either  to  the  east  or  the 
west  coast.  With  him  to  resolve  was  to  do;  Mrs.  Liv- 
ingstone and  the  children  accordingly  sailed  for  England 
in  April,  1852,  and  he  plunged  into  the  unknown  interior. 

The  second  stage  in'  Livingstone's  career  now  began. 
He  is  still  a  missionary — the  purpose  of  opening  Africa 
to  the  gospel  never  ceased  to  dominate  him — but  divine 
Providence  is  leading  him  into  a  larger  work  than  falls  to 
the  ordinary  missionary.  One  of  the  great  hindrances, 
if  not  the  chief  obstacle,  to  missionary  labors  in  Africa 
was  the  ignorance  of  the  Christian  world  up  to  this  time 


LIVINGSTONE  353 

regarding  this  great  country.  God  was  now  making  Liv- 
ingstone his  agent  for  enlightening  his  church  concerning 
this  great  unevangeHzed  continent,  and  so  opening  the 
way  for  the  greatest  of  modern  enterprises.  While 
making  preparations  for  his  first  great  journey,  Living- 
stone pursued  further  his  astronomical  studies  with  Sir 
Thomas  Maclear,  the  Astronomer  Royal  at  the  Cape,  and 
acquired  such  skill  in  the  making  of  observations  that 
he  was  able  thenceforth  to  map  accurately  all  his  journeys 
and  discoveries.  Sir  Thomas  himself  afterward  said : 
''  You  could  go  to  any  point  across  the  entire  continent 
along  Livingstone's  track  and  feel  certain  of  your  posi- 
tion. His  are  the  finest  specimens  of  sound  geographical 
observation  I  have  ever  met  with."  His  other  scientific 
notes  of  his  travels  were  equally  precise  and  valuable. 

The  problem  he  had  set  for  himself  was  to  find  a  way 
both  practicable  and  safe  from  the  interior  above  Lake 
Ngami  to  the  west  coast.  The  start  was  made  November 
II,  1853,  and  he  arrived  at  Loanda  May  31,  1854.  That 
brief  statement  covers  six  months'  endurance  of  dangers, 
privations,  and  sickness  that  brought  him  to  the  very  brink 
of  the  grave,  and  would  have  been  fatal  to  a  weaker  man. 
His  Scotch  constitution  and  his  Scotch  grit  upheld  him 
and  brought  him  safely  through  all.  The  party  (he  was 
accompanied  by  twenty-seven  Makololo,  who  were  brave 
and  faithful)  voyaged  in  canoes  up  the  Chobe  to  its  junc- 
tion with  the  Zambesi,  traced  the  Zambesi  to  its  source, 
and  also  its  affluent,  the  Leeba,  to  its  source  in  Lake 
Dilolo;  whence  they  marched  across  the  watershed  and 
down  the  valley  of  the  Quango  to  Loanda. 

Here  a  British  man-of-war  offered  him  a  passage  to 
St.  Helena ;  and  all  the  white  men  there  urged  him  to  go 
home  and  seek  recuperation  of  his  health;  but  he  had 
pledged  his  word  to  restore  his  Makololo  to  their  home 
and  tribe,  and  lie  would  not  be  moved  to  break  his  pledge 


354 


CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 


by  any  personal  considerations.  Sending  home  his  jour- 
nals, maps,  and  observations,  he  started  back  in  Feb- 
ruary I,  1885,  and  reached  the  station  whence  he  first  set 
out  September  11.  Much  less  opposition  and  danger  was 
experienced  from  the  native  tribes  on  this  return  journey, 
as  Livingstone  had  conciliated  the  chiefs  on  the  way 
down. 

He  determined  now  to  make  a  journey  of  exploration 
to  the  east  coast  also,  so  that  a  path  into  the  interior  might 
be  opened  up  in  both  directions.  He  set  out  November 
13,  and  arrived  at  Quilimane  May  20,  1856.  The  great 
event  of  this  march  was  the  discovery  of  Victoria  Falls, 
on  the  Zambesi,  wTiere  a  stream  eighteen  hundred  yards 
broad  leaps  down  three  hundred  and  twenty  feet  and  then 
suddenly  becomes  compressed  into  a  space  of  fifteen 
or  twenty  yards.  This  divides  with  Niagara  the  honor  of 
being  the  greatest  fall  of  water  in  the  world,  and  is  called 
by  the  natives  ''  Mosi-oa-tunya,"  or  "  smoke  that  sounds." 
Next  to  this  discovery  is  the  exploration  of  the  great 
watershed  that  separates  the  valley  of  the  Zambesi  from 
that  of  the  Congo.  In  these  two  journeys  Livingstone 
had  traversed  the  southern  part  of  Africa  from  ocean  to 
ocean ;  he  had  traveled  over  eleven  thousand  miles  on  foot 
and  in  canoes ;  beyond  all  the  discoverers  of  twenty  cen- 
turies he  had  enlarged  the  world's  knowledge  of  Africa; 
he  had  opened  this  great  region  to  commerce  and  civiliza- 
tion. In  a  word,  more  than  any  man  that  ever  lived,  he 
had  hastened  the  day  when  the  Dark  Continent  should  be 
dark  no  longer. 

Having  arrived  at  the  coast  he  made  temporary  pro- 
vision for  his  Makololo,  assuring  them  that  nothing  but 
death  would  prevent  his  returning  and  taking  them  back 
to  their  homes,  and  then  set  sail  for  England.  He  arrived 
to  find  himself  rich  if  he  would,  and  famous  whether  he 
would  or  no.     Honors  were  showered  upon  him:  the 


LIVINGSTONE  355 

Royal  Geographical  Society  presented  him  the  patron's 
gold  medal,  the  London  Missionary  Society  welcomed  him 
in  a  special  meeting,  Lord  Shaftesbury  in  the  chair;  the 
British  Association  made  him  their  guest  of  honor ;  Lon- 
don, Glasgow,  and  other  towns  presented  him  the  freedom 
of  the  city  in  a  gold  box;  Oxford  and  Cambridge  con- 
ferred doctor's  degrees;  and  Lord  Palmerston,  in  behalf 
of  the  government,  offered  him  the  appointment  of  Brit- 
ish Consul  for  the  East  Coast  of  Africa.  Lord  Claren- 
don, for  the  Admiralty,  said,  "  Just  come  here  and  tell  me 
what  you  want  and  I  will  give  it  you."  The  publication 
of  a  book,  in  which  he  gave  an  account  of  his  travels  and 
discoveries,  placed  him  and  his  family  at  once  beyond 
danger  of  want,  and  almost  made  him  a  rich  man.  But 
he  remained  the  same  plain,  simple  David  Livingstone. 

In  deference  to  the  advice  of  friends,  as  well  as  in 
obedience  to  a  strong  inward  call,  he  reluctantly  decided  to 
sever  his  connection  with  the  London  Missionary  Society 
and  devote  the  remainder  of  his  life  to  African  explora- 
tion. He  believed  that  he  could  do  more  for  the  ultimate 
advancement  of  the  missionary  cause  by  enlarging  men's 
knowledge  of  Africa,  and  opening  up  its  inaccessible  parts 
to  commerce  and  Christian  civilization,  than  he  could  ac- 
complish by  ordinary  missionary  labors.  He  was  un- 
doubtedly right.  The  opportunity  was  an  extraordinary 
one,  and  he  was  an  extraordinary  man;  and  though  ex- 
tremely modest,  he  was  by  no  means  ignorant  of  his  quali- 
fications for  this  work,  which  he  well  knew  that  he  could 
do  more  efficiently  than  any  living  man.  He  did  not  cease 
to  regard  himself  as  essentially  a  missionary,  though 
henceforth  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  might  be  only  an 
incident  in  his  labors,  instead  of  th-eir  chief  feature.  His 
great  aim  was  the  extension  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ, 
the  evangelizing  of  Africa,  and  this  seemed  to  him  to  be 
the  way  in  which  he  could  most  effectively  promote  the 


356  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

progress  of  the  gospel.  The  Christian  world,  with  no  dis- 
senting voice,  has  approved  his  decision  and  confirmed  his 
judgment,  and  to-day  honors  him  as  one  of  her  greatest 
missionaries,  as  the  world  of  science  honors  in  him  the 
most  intrepid  and  successful  explorer  of  modern  times. 

His  new  journeys,  in  1859,  up  the  Shire  River,  resulted 
in  the  discovery  of  Lake  Shirwa  and  Lake  Nyassa.  He 
then  fulfilled  his  pledge  to  his  Makololo  companions  of 
the  former  expedition  by  returning  them  to  their  home. 
A  great  sorrow  came  to  him  now ;  his  wife,  who  had  re- 
joined him  only  three  months  before,  died  at  a  station  on 
the  Zambesi  April  2y,  1862.  Henceforth  without  any 
white  companion,  he  plodded  his  toilsome  way  to  the  end. 
A  great  disappointment  also  came:  these  explorations  of 
his  had  roused  suspicion  and  objections  from  the  Portu- 
guese government,  which  feared  that  these  travels  of  a 
British  consul  might  result  in  eventual  British  occupation 
of  territory  claimed  by  them.  A  change  of  government 
had  occurred  in  England,  and  Lord  John  Russell  was  in 
the  foreign  office.  Instead  of  standing  by  Livingstone, 
and  using  all  the  resources  of  diplomacy  to  placate  the 
Portuguese  government,  he  thought  it  simpler,  and  it  was 
no  doubt  easier,  to  throw  over  the  missionary  and  his 
expedition.  He  therefore  without  warning  recalled  the 
expedition  and  revoked  Livingstone's  authority. 

Compelled  thus  to  abandon  his  work,  Livingstone  re- 
turned to  England.  The  Royal  Geographical  Society  at 
once  commissioned  him  to  explore  Central  Africa,  and 
especially  to  settle  the  question  of  the  ultimate  sources  of 
the  Nile,  and  the  relations  of  the  great  central  lakes.  He 
was  also  to  have  the  honor  of  being  entitled  British  consul 
of  Central  Africa,  but  without  pay.  Interest  in  his  dis- 
coveries had  somewhat  subsided  by  now,  and  he  was  no 
longer  a  nine  days'  wonder  ;  there  is  no  disguising  the  fact 
that  on  the  whole  he  was  rather  shabbily  treated,  but  he 


LIVINGSTONE  357 

made  no  complaint,  took  what  was  offered,  and  set  out, 
in  January,  1866,  on  the  expedition  from  which  he  was 
never  to  return. 

His  remaining  seven  years  were  spent  in  the  attempt  to 
solve  the  geographical  problems  that  had  been  set  him,  in 
which  he  was  only  partially  successful.  For  a  long  time 
nothing  was  heard  of  him,  and  reports  of  his  death  began 
to  be  circulated — at  first  disbelieved,  but  growing  in  posi- 
tiveness  until  fears  were  entertained  for  his  safety.  An 
expedition  was  sent  to  his  relief  by  James  Gordon  Bennett 
the  elder,  of  the  ''  New  York  Herald,"  led  by  Henry  M. 
Stanley,  till  then  only  a  fairly  successful  newspaper  cor- 
respondent, with  no  experience  in  the  work  of  exploration 
and  no  special  interest  in  missions  or  missionaries.  Mr. 
Stanley  succeeded  in  finding  Livingstone,  who  had  been 
compelled  to  turn  back  and  was  nearly  at  the  end  of  his 
resources.  The  strongest  urging  was  not  sufficient  to  in- 
duce him  to  return,  or  to  give  up  his  task,  which  he  pro- 
posed to  finish  if  life  remained.  Stanley  gave  him  fresh 
supplies,  and  what  was  better  sent  from  the  coast  fifty 
men,  of  whom  Livingstone  afterward  spoke  his  highest 
praise,  "  These  men  have  behaved  as  well  as  Makololo." 

The  old  man,  broken  in  health,  and  daily  growing  more 
feeble  in  body,  but  with  spirit  undaunted,  nov/  started 
(August,  1872)  to  complete  his  explorations  and  solve 
his  remaining  unsolved  problems.  A  man  of  sixty,  he  set 
out  with  all  the  courage  and  energy  of  youth,  and  for  a 
time  it  seemed  that  he  might  succeed.  But  his  years  of 
hardship  and  the  insidious  African  fever  had  done  their 
work.  His  last  task  proved  beyond  his  rapidly  failing 
powers ;  he  grew  weaker  and  weaker,  until  on  April  2y, 
1873,  he  made  his  last  entry  in  his  journal,  and  on  the 
morning  of  May  i,  when  his  servants  came  to  the  door  of 
his  tent,  they  found  him  kneeling  by  the  bed,  his  face 
buried  in  his  hands  on  the  pillow,  his  spirit  gone  to  the 


358  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

God  who  gave  it.  These  faithful  black  men  now  showed 
of  what  stuff  they  were  made.  They  embalmed  the  body 
in  a  rude  but  effective  native  fashion,  gathered  together 
his  belongings,  and  with  great  peril  and  difficulty  bore  all 
down  to  the  coast  and  delivered  them  safely  to  the  Brit- 
ish consul  at  Zanzibar,  on  February  15,  1874.  The  re- 
mains were  brought  to  England,  identified  beyond  possi- 
bility of  doubt  by  the  injured  joint  in  the  arm  broken  by 
the  lion,  and  given  burial  in  Westminster  Abbey. 

The  problems  that  Livingstone  failed  to  solve  were 
taken  up  by  Henry  M.  Stanley,  who  was  led  to  under- 
take them  mainly  by  the  deep  impression  that  the  great 
missionary  explorer  had  made  on  him  in  the  few  weeks 
they  had  spent  together  in  the  heart  of  Africa.  He  under- 
took the  work  quite  in  the  spirit  of  Livingstone.  Never  a 
missionary  by  formal  appointment,  not  even  a  Christian 
by  formal  profession,  he  resolved  to  complete  the  opening 
of  Central  Africa  to  commerce  and  Christian  civilization, 
with  the  hope  that  Christian  missions  would  be  the  ear- 
liest and  the  chief  civilizing  agency.  His  explorations  of 
1875-1878  of  the  Victoria  Nyanza  and  Albert  Nyanza 
lakes  practically  completed  our  knowledge  of  Central 
Africa,  and  his  return  trip  down  the  Congo  opened  up  a 
practicable  route  to  the  western  coast.  The  immediate 
results  were  the  establishment  of  the  Congo  Free  State 
and  of  several  missions  to  this  region,  including  the  Congo 
Baptist  Mission. 

Though  hardly  more  than  a  promising  beginning  has 
yet  been  made  of  the  great  enterprise  of  evangelizing 
Africa,  the  principal  missionary  societies  of  the  world 
now  have  their  representatives  in  that  country,  and  there 
are  few  regions  to  which  some  of  them  have  not  pene- 
trated. One  of  the  first  of  the  new  fields  opened  by  Liv- 
ingstone owed  its  evangelization  directly  to  him.  On  his 
first  visit  to  England,  he  made  an  address  to  the  students 


LIVINGSTONE  359 

at  Oxford  and  Cambridge  universities,  in  which  he  urged 
directly  on  them  the  doing  of  missionary  work  in  Africa, 
and  as  a  result  the  Universities'  Mission  was  organized  at 
once,  and  two  years  later  they  had  men  in  the  field.  The 
first  station  was  not  happily  chosen,  as  the  climate  proved 
extremely  deadly,  and  after  a  brief  and  sad  experience  the 
survivors  were  recalled  to  Zanzibar,  where  an  educational 
work  was  begun.  The  graduates  of  the  schools  thus 
established  have  in  these  last  years  begun  a  new  work  in 
the  Lake  Nyassa  region,  which  has  so  grown  since  1885 
as  now  to  require  two  bishops  for  its  supervision. 

Perhaps  nothing  did  more  to  fix  the  thought  of  the 
Christian  world  on  African  missions  than  the  career  of 
Hannington.  A  graduate  of  Oxford,  a  born  leader  of 
men,  he  had  in  1874  a  new  and  deeper  religious  experi- 
ence that  led  him  to  offer  his  services  to  the  Church 
Missionary  Society  as  a  missionary  to  Africa.  His  career 
was  brief  and  brilliant.  In  1882  he  began  his  work;  in 
1883  he  was  consecrated  missionary  bishop  of  equatorial 
Africa.  He  had  set  his  heart  on  establishing  a  mission 
at  Uganda,  in  response  to  Stanley's  challenge  to  the  Chris- 
tian people  of  England :  "  Nowhere  is  there  in  all  the 
pagan  world  a  more  promising  field  for  a  mission! 
Here,  gentlemen,  is  your  opportunity;  embrace  it!  The 
people  on  the  shores  of  the  Nyanza  call  upon  you." 
With  much  difficulty  Hannington  made  his  way  to 
Uganda  where,  at  the  instigation  of  Arab  slave-traders, 
he  was  killed  by  the  chief  of  this  region,  October  29, 
1885.  His  last  words  were,  "  I  have  purchased  the  road 
to  Uganda  with  my  life."  So  it  proved  to  be.  In  ten 
years  there  were  three  hundred  churches  in  this  region, 
and  fifty  thousand  converts. 

A  mere  summary  of  the  results  of  African  missions  in 
a  popular  handbook  fills  nearly  three  hundred  duodecimo 
pages.    It  is  obviously  impossible  to  attempt  anything  of 


360  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

the  sort  here,  and  unnecessary  as  well,  since  the  litera- 
ture of  the  subject  is  abundant  and  easily  accessible.  Let 
us  rather  complete  our  survey  of  African  missions  by 
considering  some  of  the  chief  obstacles  to  Christian  evan- 
gelization, and  the  prospect  of  success  during  the  present 
generation. 

•  One  of  the  greatest  obstacles  has  always  been,  and  still 
is,  the  slave-trade.  It  was  the  hope  of  Livingstone  that 
the  progress  of  European  civilization  in  the  heart  of  the 
continent  would  cause  the  speedy  disappearance  of  this 
ancient  scourge  of  Africa.  This  hope  cannot  be  said 
to  have  been  realized,  hardly  to  be  in  process  of  realiza- 
tion. The  case  of  Africa  is  thought  by  many  to  have 
actually  become  worse,  rather  than  better,  by  reason  of 
European  interference.  Even  the  Congo  Free  State, 
which  was  expected  to  do  wonders  for  the  regeneration 
of  Africa,  itself  needs  regeneration,  since  it  is  charged 
by  the  missionaries  on  the  field  with  crimes  and  outrages 
truly  diabolical.  Can  nothing  be  done  to  rouse  Christen- 
dom to  a  sense  of  this  shame,  or  to  induce  Christian  gov- 
ernments to  intervene  to  some  purpose?  O  Christian 
civilization,  how  many  crimes  are  committed  in  thy  name ! 
Another  obstacle  of  almost  equal  proportions  is  the 
liquor  traffic.  This  is  a  sin  that  rests  almost  wholly  on 
the  "  Christian "  nations.  Responsibility  for  the  slave 
traffic  we  may  shift,  with  some  show  of  reason,  to  the 
shoulders  of  the  Mohammedan  peoples,  but  the  nefarious 
trade  in  liquor  is  the  sin  and  shame  of  the  so-called  Chris- 
tian nations.  Nearly  all  of  them  are  concerned  in  it,  in- 
cluding our  own,  for  even  in  once  pious  New  England 
(so  it  is  said  on  good  authority)  rum  is  distilled  expressly 
for  exportation  to  Africa.  The  good  old  days  when  pil- 
lars in  the  church  had  money  most  profitably  invested  in 
vessels  engaged  in  the  slave-trade  are  gone,  but  the  devil 
still  had  an  effective  lure,  it  seems,  for  those  whose  greed 


LIVINGSTONE  36I 

of  money  exceeds  every  other  passion.  The  Christian 
peoples  of  Europe  and  America  are,  almost  literally, 
standing  at  the  doors  of  Africa  with  a  Bible  in  one  hand 
and  a  bottle  of  rum  in  the  other — what  wonder  that  the 
savage  so  often  chooses  the  rum!  This  evil  also  calls 
aloud  for  effective  international  concert  and  intervention. 

The  menace  of  the  climate,  once  reckoned  an  obstacle 
second  to  none,  grows  less  with  every  decade.  Recent 
medical  discoveries  have  made  precautions  possible  that 
will  keep  at  bay  diseases  hitherto  extremely  deadly.  No 
doubt  other  discoveries  will  be  made  ere  long  that  will 
teach  the  prevention,  if  not  the  cure,  of  other  fatal 
diseases  peculiar  to  Africa.  The  day  is  not  distant,  in- 
deed it  is  almost  here,  when  missionaries  to  Africa  will 
no  longer  be  looked  upon  as  devoted  to  an  early  death, 
but  will  live  out  their  days  there  as  often  as  upon  any 
other  mission  field. 

Another  obstacle  that  is  every  year  becoming  less  for- 
midable is  the  vast  number  of  languages  and  dialects 
spoken  by  the  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  million  peo- 
ple of  Africa — one-eighth  of  the  population  of  the  globe. 
These  must  be  patiently  learned  by  the  missionaries,  re- 
duced to  writing,  and  then  a  Christian  literature  must  be 
produced,  at  cost  of  great  labor,  and  much  time  and 
expense.  Progress  is  necessarily  slow,  but  each  decade 
sees  fewer  unknown  tongues  in  Africa,  and  great  addi- 
tions to  its  vernacular  Scriptures.  This  obstacle  will 
gradually  melt  and  disappear,  and  in  the  meantime  it  only 
retards — it  does  not  actually  prevent — the  progress  of 
missions. 

The  brutal  and  degraded  character  of  many  tribes,  their 
relative  inaccessibility  to  religious  ideas,  their  heathen  cus- 
toms— all  of  which  many  have  thought  a  chief  obstacle  to 
the  progress  of  the  gospel,  we  may  regard  as  certain  to 
disappear  before  the  progress  of  enlightenment.    That  the 


362  CHRISTIAN    EPOCH-MAKERS 

light  of  Christian  civilization  will  yet  shine  in  every  part 
of  the  Dark  Continent  is  no  longer  a  mere  hope,  but  must 
be  reckoned  a  certainty.  So  many  circumstances  point  in 
this  direction  that  our  Christian  courage  and  faith  should 
be  much  strengthened.  The  outlook  for  immediate  and 
steady  improvement  in  the  condition  of  Africa  is  most 
hopeful,  but  the  chief  ground  for  such  confidence  is  that 
the  church  of  Christ  is  with  every  year  becoming  more 
and  more  awakened  to  the  greatness  of  this  missionary 
field,  and  to  the  pressing  necessity  of  occupying  it  strongly 
at  once. 

And  this  is  well,  for  we  have  yet  to  consider  what  is 
really  the  great  obstacle  to  the  progress  of  Christian  mis- 
sions in  Africa.  That  is  the  activity  of  the  Mohammedan 
missions.  At  this  m.oment  it  is  unquestionably  true  that 
Mohammedanism  is  making  more  rapid  strides  in  Africa 
than  Christianity.  The  missionaries  of  the  Koran  are 
numerous,  zealous,  and  very  successful,  for  they  require 
no  change  of  heart  in  their  converts,  no  spiritual  life  after 
conversion,  but  only  a  formal  profession  of  faith,  easily 
made,  and  the  performance  of  a  few  simple  rites.  It  is 
the  common  experience  and  testimony  of  all  missionaries 
that  heathen  once  converted  to  Mohammedanism  are 
much  more  difficult  to  be  Christianized  than  when  in 
their  original  state  of  heathenism.  Whether  Africa  shall 
be  predominantly  Christian  or  Mohammedan  may  be  said 
to-day  to  be  a  still  open  question.  Great  progress  of  the 
Mohammedan  faith  is  said  to  be  now  making  in  the 
Soudan  and  Central  Africa.  But  the  question  will  re- 
main open  no  longer  than  it  will  take  the  Christian  world 
to  comprehend  the  situation,  to  realize  the  gravity  of  the 
crisis.  Once  it  is  awakened,  can  we  doubt  that  the 
churches  will  pour  their  men  and  money  into  darkest 
Africa,  with  the  determination  once  for  all  to  take  and 
hold  that  land  for  their  Lord? 


LIVINGSTONE  363 

Those  who  have  patiently  read  these  chapters,  in  which 
the  successive  missionary  movements  of  the  Christian  ages 
have  been  traced,  cannot  fail  to  have  attained  to  a  new 
conception  both  of  the  moral  dignity  of  missions  and  of 
the  marvelous  results  that  God  has  wrought  in  the  world 
through  a  few  faithful  servants.  May  the  reading  of  this 
story  not  only  add  something  to  each  reader's  knowledge 
of  missionary  history,  but  quicken  every  conscience  to  re- 
spond with  greater  loyalty  and  devotion  to  our  Lord's 
Great  Commission.  May  it  also  contribute  something  to 
that  growing  conviction  that  the  evangelization  of  the 
world  in  this  present  generation  is  practicable,  and  if  prac- 
ticable, then  an  urgent  duty.  The  Christian  world  has 
been  playing  at  missions.  It  has  done  little  more  than 
pretend  to  disciple  all  the  nations.  Grateful  as  we  should 
be  for  what  has  been  accomplished,  how  small  are  the  re- 
sults of  the  century  of  modern  missions,  when  we  think 
what  the  Christian  church  was  well  able  to  do.  God  speed 
the  day  when  those  who  profess  to  respect  the  commands 
of  their  Lord  shall  be  in  deadly  earnest  in  doing  his  will ; 
when  the  consecrated  host  of  God's  elect,  animated  by  a 
single  purpose,  fired  by  a  universal  zeal,  shall  move  for- 
ward in  all  their  might  to  the  conquest  of  the  world  for 
Christ,  "  fair  as  the  moon,  clear  as  the  sun,  and  terrible  as 
an  army  with  banners  !  " 


INDEX 


Adalbert,  opponent  of  Boniface,  117. 

Africa:  condition  of,  345;  Moham- 
medanism in,  34^;  missions  in, 
347;  effect  of  Stanley's  discov- 
eries in,  358;  slave-trade  of,  360; 
prospects  of  missions  in,  361,  362. 

Alphons,    Nicholas    (Bobadilla),  205. 

A.    B.    C.   F.    M.,   formed,   330. 

Angles,   conversion   of,    91-93. 

Anglican  theory  of  the  church,  95. 

Ansgar:  early  life  of,  129;  com- 
missioned by  pope,  133;  mission 
to  Sweden,  132;  contrasted  with 
Boniface,  134;  disclaims  miracles, 
135;  death  and  character,  136; 
completes  Gregory's  plan,  138. 

Antioch,  church  in:  origin  of,  22; 
begins  foreign  missions,  24; 
leader  of  Christian  hosts,  27; 
relations  to  apostles,  30;  Juda- 
izers  disturb,   27. 

Apostles:  traditions  concerning,  29; 
their   episcopal    functions,    36. 

Aries,  council  of,  63. 

Arians:   and  Ulfilas,   48;   and  Goths, 

54- 
Augustine,    missionarjr    to    England: 

begins   work,   86;    his   success,   90; 

founds   church   at    Canterbury,  91 ; 

primate  of  England,  96;  results  of 

his  work,  98,  99. 
Augustine  of  Hippo,  93,  94. 

Barbarians:  irruption  of,  43  scq.; 
name  a  misnomer,  46;  influence 
of  Christianity  on,  58. 

Barnabas:  at  Antioch,  23;  mission- 
ary tour  of,   25. 

Baptists:  English  and  missions,  292 
seq.',  American  and  missions,  332 
seq.;  General  Convention,  334; 
Home    Mission    Society,    338. 

Bede,  the  Venerable,  63,  68. 

Berthelsdorf,  269. 

Beza,  hostility  to  missions,  227. 

Bible   societies,    339. 

Bishop,  in  New  Testament,  37. 

Bogoris,  Prince  of  Bulgaria,   146. 

Bohemia:  gospel  first  preached  in, 
152;  reform  in,  203;  Counter- Ref- 
ormation in,  268. 

Bohemian  Brethren.  (See,  Unitas 
Fratrum.) 

Boniface:  early  life  of,  106;  be- 
gins mission,  107;  commissioned 
by  pope,  108;  preaches  in  Hessia, 
ibid;  his  oath  to  the  pope,  109; 
character  of,  iii,  112,  116;  made 
archbishop,     113;     death    of,     116; 


his  tyranny,  117;  greatness  of, 
121;  contrasted  with  Ansgar,   133. 

Boniface  VIII,   139,   169. 

Boving,  John,  237. 

Brebeuf,  Jesuit  missionary,  219,  220. 

Britain:  early  church  of,  77 ;  Anglo- 
Saxon  invasion  of,  84  seq.;  ef- 
fects of,  86-88. 

Buddhism    in   India,    308. 

Bulgaria,   conversion  of,    146. 

Bunyan,  John:  his  self-accusations, 
70;   his   country,   285. 

Burgundians,  conversion  of,  53. 

Butzlaff,   Charles,   349. 

Calpurnius,  father  of  Patrick.  68. 

Calvin,  indifference  of,  to  missions, 
226. 

Canterbury,  Augustine  builds  church 
at,  91. 

Carey,  William:  his  interest  in  for- 
eign people,  107;  opposed  by  East 
India  Co.,  234;  not  first  mission- 
ary in  India,  243;  birth  and 
family,  285;  early  life,  286;  con- 
tempt for  Dissenters,  287;  his 
baptism,  288;  pastor  at  Moulton, 
289;  gifts  as  linguist,  289,  297; 
sermon  at  Nottingham,  291;  so- 
ciety formed  for  missions,  292; 
Southey  on  his  work,  296;  his 
translations,  297;  a  great  Oriental 
scholar,  299;  experiments  in  hor- 
ticulture, 300;  results  of  labors, 
301;  place  in  history,  302. 

Carnatic,    war    in,    253. 

Caste:  tolerated  by  Danish  mis- 
sionaries, 243;  how  viewed  by 
others,  244;  causes  of,  307. 

Coelestine  (Pope) :  traditional  con- 
nection  with   Patrick,    66,    73. ,_ 

Central  America,  Moravian  missions 
in,  274. 

Charlemagne:  and  the  Northmen, 
125;  and  the  temporal  power,  163. 

Charles    Martel,    98. 

Chelcicky,  Peter,  Bohemian  reform- 
er, 267. 

Church,  of  Jerusalem,  21,  22. 

Church,  of  Antioch,  22. 

Church,  of  Britain,  77. 

Church,  of  Ireland,   77. 

Church  of  England:  connection  with 
Rome,    95 ;    its    missionary    work, 

295- 
Church    of    Rome:    and    the    vernac- 
ular     Scriptures,       149;       absorbs 
Greek   missions,    153;    its   mission- 
ary   operations,    203;    recuperative 


INDEX 


36s 


power     cf,     204;     its     missionary 

methods,    207-210. 
Cicero,   on   immortality,    17. 
Cities,     importance    of    in    work    of 

missions,    34,    35. 
Clara  and  the  Clarissines,   196. 
Clement,  opponent  of  Boniface,  117. 
Clovis,    conversion    and    baptism    of. 

Codex   Argenteus,  51. 

Columba:    without    papal    authority, 

74;    life  and  labors  of,  78. 
Columban:      not      commissioned      by 

pope,   74;  life  and  labors  of,   79. 
Columbus   and   the   new   world,   294. 
Comparative  religion  and  missions,  9. 
Congo  Free  State,   358,   360. 
Corbie^   convent  of,    130. 
Councils:     Aries,     63;     Basel,     268; 

Jerusalem,   28;    Soissons,    114. 
Cranmer,      receives      pallium      from 

Rome,   96. 
Crusades:     occasion     of,     99,      166; 

what  they  accomplished,    167;   age 

of,   172. 
Cyril.      (See   Methodius.) 
Czechs,    conversion    of,    152. 

Dante,  writes  in  vernacular,   173. 
David,     Christian,     finds     home     for 

Moravians,   269. 
Dark  Ages:  character  of,  59,  119. 
Denmark,  conversion  of,   131   seg. 
Dober,  Leonard,  273. 
Diisseldorf,  gallery  at,  210. 

East  India  Company:  (Danish)  op- 
poses missions,  234;  (English)  op- 
poses missions,  234;  makes  Mar- 
tyn  chaplain,  311;  honors  Carey, 
294- 

Egede,  Hans:  missionary  to  Green- 
land, 247;  influence  on  Zinzen- 
dorf,   272. 

England:  mission  to,  89  seq;  be- 
comes Christian,  94;  its  church  a 
branch  of  the  Roman,  95;  effects 
of  its  conversion,  95,  97,   iii. 

Eskimos,  Moravian  missions  to,  275, 
293- 

Ethelbert,   king  of  Kent,   90,   91. 

Europe,  at  close  of  fifth  century,  57. 

Feudalism  in  Italy,   197. 

Filioqiie   in  the  creed,    150. 

Fisher,    on    barbarian    conquests,    58. 

Fox,  Cieorge,  285,  287. 

France,    Protestantism    in,    203. 

Francis  of  Assisi:  early  life  of, 
181;  conversion,  182;  choice  of 
poverty,  183;  his  idea  of  mendi- 
cancy, 184;  not  a  monk,  185;  his 
difficulties,    186;   gains  approval   of 

Eope,   187;  mission  in  Egypt,  190; 
is  will,   192;  his  third  order,   197- 
199;     character  of,    199,   200,   309. 
Franciscans:       founded,      188,     328; 
perversion    of,    193;    privileges    of, 
194;  their  missions,   195  seq. 
Francke,      August      Hermann:      his 


orphanage    and    school,    229,    230, 

270;    encourages    Ziegenbalg,    2Z2; 

influence   on    Schwartz,   249. 
Franks:     conversion     of,     56;     are 

Catholics,    57. 
Frederick    IV,    of    Denmark:    favors 

missions,     231;     aids     mission     to 

Greenland,   247. 
Freeman,  on  conquest  of  Rome,  47. 
Fulda,  monastery  of,  116,   121. 
Fuller,    Andrew,    290. 
Future  life  and  the  gospel,    16. 

Galatia,    scene   of   Paul's   labors,    26. 

Gaul,   conquest  of,   44. 

Geismar,  the  oak  of,   112. 

Gerhard,  John,  opposes  missions, 
227. 

Germany,   conversion  of,    104  seq. 

Gibbon,  on  conversion  of  Goths,   53. 

God:  heathen  idea  of,  10;  his  holi- 
ness, 1 1 ;  Christian  teaching  con- 
cerning, 1 1 ;  Mohammedan  idea  of, 
12. 

Goths:  found  kingdom  in  Italy,  43; 
conquest  of  empire,  45  seq.;  Gib- 
bon  on   conversion  of,    53. 

Gospel,   content  of,    10  seq. 

Great  Commission:  relation  of  to 
missions,  6,  325;  Luther's  teach- 
ing on,  225;  Calvin's,  226;  Beza's, 
227. 

Greek  Church,  missions  of,   143  seq. 

Green,    Byram,    325. 

Greenland,   mission  to,   247. 

Gregory  the  Great:  anecdote  of,  88; 
begins  English  mission,  89;  great 
missionary  scheme  of,  97,  121,  146, 
163;  completion  of  his  policy  by 
Ansgar,    138. 

Gregory  II,  commissions  Boniface, 
108. 

Gregory  IV,  commissions  Ansgar, 
133- 

Gregory  IX,  168,  193,   198. 

Grenfell,  Lydia,  relations  to  Henry 
Martyn,   312   seq. 

Griindler,  John,  231. 

Hannington,     bishop,     mission     and 

death,    359. 
Hall,    Gordon,    326,    330,    331. 
Halle,   University  of,  229,  230,  238, 

249,  251. 
Harold,  king  of  Danes,  128,  131,  132. 
Haystack  prayer  meeting,   325. 
Herrnhut:     founded,     269;      Zinzen- 

dorf's   interest  in,   271. 
Hessia,    labors    of    Boniface    in,    108 

seq. 
Hildebrand,    118,   139;  his  theory  of 

the  church,    165. 
Honorius    III,     establishes    Francis- 
cans,   191. 
Home  missions  in  America,  337  seq. 
Hungary:  becomes  independent,  169; 

reform   in,    203. 
Huns,   invasion   of,   45. 
Hurons:     Jesuit     mission     to,     218; 

massacre  of,  219. 


366 


INDEX 


Hus,   John,    result   of   his   teachings, 

267. 
Ilyder  Ali,  friend  of  Schwartz,  253, 

254- 

India:  Danish  settlement  in,  231; 
universal  corruption  of,  255;  char- 
acteristics of,  305;  history,  306; 
Buddhism  in,  308;  Mohammedan 
conquest  of,  ibid;  mission  of 
Xavier  in,  207  seq.;  of  Carey,  243 
seq.;  of  Martyn,  312  seq.;  of 
Judson,  331  seq. 

Innocent  III:  referred  to,  118,  139, 
181;  realizes  theory  of  Hilde- 
brand,  165;  approves  order  of 
Francis,    187. 

Ireland:  conversion  of,  74;  a  mis- 
sionary center,  78;  its  learning, 
103;   church  of,   77. 

Iroquois,  their  massacre  of  Hurons 
and  missionaries,  218-220. 

Isidore,    false  decretals  of,    164. 

Italy:  in  the  thirteenth  century,  196 
seq.;  Gothic  conquest  of,  46;  Met- 
ternich's  epigram  on,   305. 

Japan:  Xavier's  mission  to,  214; 
massacre  of  Christians  in,  215. 

Jerusalem,    council   of,   28. 

Jesuits.      (See  Society  of  Jesus.) 

Jesus:  his  mission  universal,  5;  his 
social  teachings,  15;  resurrection 
of,    17. 

John,  king  of  England,  and  Magna 
Charta,    168. 

John   III,   of   Portugal,   207. 

John  VIII  (Pope)  his  diplomacy, 
149. 

Jones,  Sir  William,  299. 

Jordan,    Polycarp,    237. 

Joseph  of  Arimathea,   legend  of,  63. 

Jubilee,   of  Boniface  VIII,    169. 

Judaism,  non-missionary,  3. 

Judson,  Adoniram:  his  missionary 
call,  327;  sails  for  India,  33i> 
becomes  Baptist,  333;  goes  to  Bur- 
ma,   335- 

Jutes,   invade  England,   84. 

Kelts,  mentioned,  65,  69,  83. 
.Kent:     Jutes    settle    in,    84;     gospel 
!      preached   in,    90. 
■»Kiew,   baptisms    at,    157. 

Laynez,  Jacob,  205. 

Lefevre,  Pierre,  205,  206. 

Livingstone,  David:  interest  of,  in 
foreign  peoples,  107,  348;  sails  for 
Africa,  349;  his  marriage,  350; 
first  labors  of,  351;  discovers  Lake 
Ngami,  352;  journeys  to  west 
coast,  353;  to  east  coast,  354; 
his  visit  to  England  and  honors, 
355;  his  later  discoveries,  356 
seq.;  relieved  by  Stanley,  357; 
death  of,    358. 

Loomis,  Harvey,   325. 

Lowell,    on   private   judf^ment,    54. 

Loyola,   Ignatius:   becomes  friend  of 


Xavier,  205;  suspected  of  heresy, 
206;  projects  mission  to  Turks, 
309;    founds   order,    206,    328. 

Lull,  successor  of  Boniface,    114. 

Lull,  Raimund:  early  life  of,  168; 
conversion  of,  170;  on  pilgrim- 
ages, 171;  on  crusades,  172;  phi- 
losophy of,  173,  174,  176;  first 
mission  of  at  Tunis,  175;  second 
mission  and  death,  176;  char- 
acter and  influence,   177,   309. 

Liitken,  court  chaplain,  231. 

Luther,  and  missions,  225,  226. 

Magna  Charta,   168. 

Martyn,  Henry:  early  life  of,  309; 
his  conversion,  310;  his  ascetic 
piety,  311;  sails  for  India,  312; 
unfortunate  attachment  to  Lydia 
Grenfell,  313;  gifts  as  linguist, 
314;  his  preaching,  315;  versions 
of  Scriptures,  317;  their  excel- 
lence, 318;  his  idea  of  missions  to 
Mohammedans,  319. 

Methodius,  missionary  to  Moravia: 
translates  Scriptures,  148,  151; 
made  archbishop,  150. 

Methodists,    and   missions,    336,    338. 

Metternich,    epigram    on    Italy,    305. 

Mills,  Samuel  J.,  325,  326. 

Missions:  essential  to  Christianity, 
3;  gage  of  spiritual  life,  7;  in 
the  New  Testament,  8 ;  and  Com- 
parative Religion,  9;  begun  at 
Antioch,  24;  labors  of  apostles  in, 
29;  chief  motive  of,  37;  univer- 
sal obligation  of,  39;  among  Goths, 
49  seq.;  among  Franks,  56  seq.; 
to  British,  64  seq.;  to  English,  89 
seq.;  to  Germany,  104  seq.;  to 
Scandinavians,  131  seq.;  to  Slavs, 
146  seq.;  to  Mohammedans,  175 
^^Q-,  315  s^Q->'  oi  the  Franciscans, 
189  seq.;  of  the  Jesuits,  207  seq.; 
Protestant  indifference  to,  228; 
advocated  by  Savaria,  227;  fa- 
vored by  Frederick  IV,  231;  of 
Lutherans,  235  seq.,  251 'seq.;  of 
Moravians,  272  seq.;  of  English 
Baptists,  292  seq.;  of  Americans, 
325;  reflex  influence  of,  339;  in 
Africa,  347  seq.;  prospect  of,  361, 
362. 

Missionary  methods:  apostolic,  30 
seq.;  discussed,  207-210,  248,  250, 
258-263,    274,    277-282. 

Moffat,  Robert  and  Mary,  347. 

Mohammedans:  advance  in  Roman 
empire,  98;  conquests  of,  138, 
166;  Lull's  mission  to,  175  seq.; 
in  India,  309;  Martyn's  mission 
to,  314  seq.;  future  of  missions 
to,  319,  320;  hostility  to  Chris- 
tianity,   362. 

Monachism:  in  Ireland,  77 '<  .Pre- 
served learning,  119;  philan- 
thropic function  of  120;  industrial 
character  of,   130,  131. 

Moravia,    conversion   of,    147. 

Moravians.      (See   Unitas   Fratrum.) 


INDEX 


367 


Neander,  on  rival  missionary  poli- 
cies,   104. 

Newell,  Samuel,  326,  330,  331. 

Nicholas  I:  and  the  Bulgarians, 
147;   and  the  false  decretals,    164. 

Nicholas  III,    193. 

Nitzschmann,  David,  273. 

Northmen:  their  ships,  84;  their 
first  appearance  in  history,  125; 
character  and  institutions  of,  126- 
128;  Ansgar's  missions  to,  132 
seq.;  in  America,   137. 

Norway,   conversion   of,    137. 

Nott,   Samuel,   326,   330,   331. 

Olga,     Princess,     becomes    a     Chris- 
tian, 154. 
Origen,  on  Christianity  in  Britain,  63. 

Palladius,  first  missionary  to  Ireland, 
66. 

Papacy:  beginning  of,  58;  steady 
growth  of,  164.  (See  also 
"  Popes.") 

Patrick:  myths  about,  66;  writings 
of,  67;  family,  68,  69;  captive  in 
Ireland,  70;  missionary  call,  72; 
no  papal  commission,  73;  his 
labors,  74;  death,  75;  baptized 
believers  only,  76;  his  character, 
79,  80. 

Paul:  at  Antioch,  23;  first  mis- 
sionary tour,  25;  second  tour,  28; 
vision  at  Troas,  29;  imprison- 
ment,   31. 

Paul   III,   and   the  Jesuits,   206. 

Paullinus,   missionary  to  Angles,   91. 

Paulerspury,  birthplace  of  Carey, 
285. 

Pennsylvania,  Zinzendorf's  visit  to, 
275- 

Peter:  and  Cornelius,  21;  the  apostle 
of  the  circumcision,  27. 

Philadelphia  Association,  and  mis- 
sions, 332. 

Philostorgius,  Greek  historian,  48, 
50. 

Photius,  patriarch  of  Constantinople, 
147. 

Pietism:  rise  of,  227;  six  principles 
of,  228;  Warneck  on,  229. 

Pilgrimages,   Lull   on,    171. 
, Pippin,    king    of    France:    aids    mis- 
■     sionaries,      104;      acts     as     peace- 
maker,   118;   gift  to  pope,    163. 

Plassey,  battle  of,  250. 

Pliitschau,  Henry:  colleague  of  Zieg- 
enbalg,  233;  labors  in  India,  235; 
arrested,  2:^6;  returns  home,  239. 

Poland,  receives  the  gospel,   153. 

Popes:  Boniface  VIII,  139,  169; 
Coelestine,  66,  7^;  Gregory  I 
(the  Great),  88,  89,  121,  138,  146, 
163;  (jregory  II,  108;  Gregory  IV, 
133;  Gregory  VII  (Hildebrand), 
118,  139,  165;  Honorius  III,  191; 
Innocent  III,  118,  139,  165,  181, 
187;  Nicholas  I,  147,  164;  Nicho- 
las III,  193;  Paul  III,  206; 
Stephen,   118. 


Presbyterians:  and  American  Board, 
331;    their    home    missions,    338. 

Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  and 
missions,   336. 

Radbod,  king  of  Friesland,  104,  107, 
1 08. 

Reformation:  cause  of,  168;  extent 
of,  203. 

Remigius,  baptizes  Clovis,  56. 

Renaissance,  origin  of,  168. 

Rice,  Luther:  at  Williams  College, 
326;  sails  for  India,  331;  lands 
in  Boston,  333;  tour  of  churches, 
334. 

Richards,  James,  325,  326. 

Robbins,    Francis    L,    325. 

Rodriguez,   Simon,  205. 

Russia:  gospel  in,  154  seq.;  con- 
version of,   156. 

Ryland,  John,  288,  291. 

Salmeron,   Alphonso,    205. 

Salvation,    gospel    idea    of,    14. 

Sati,   abolition   of,    299. 

Saul,   conversion  of,   23. 

Savaria,  Adrian,  advocates  missions, 
227. 

Saxons,  invade  England,  84. 

Schaff,  on  Augustine,  93. 

Schools,    in    missions,    260   seq. 

Schwartz,  Christian  Friedrich:  early 
life  of,  249;  gift  as  linguist,  251; 
description  of,  252;  ambassador  to 
Hyder  AH,  253;  guardian  of 
Prince  Serfogee,  254;  his  disin- 
terestedness, 255;  secret  of  his 
long  life,  256;  his  epitaph,  257; 
his  educational  idea,  258  seq,, 
293- 

Scriptures:  translation  of  by  Ulfi- 
las,  50;  Boniface  on  study  of,  106; 
Rome  on  versions  of,  149;  Me- 
thodius translates  the,  148;  Carey's 
versions  of,  297;  Martyn's,  317 
seq.;   Ziegenbalg's,    236;    Judson's, 

^  335-  .     . 

Serampore,  mission  and  press  at, 
298. 

Serfogee,  Prince:  educated  by 
Schwartz,  254;  erects  monument, 
257- 

Slavs:  character  of,  144;  conver- 
sion of,  145  seq.;  religious  future 
of,    158,    159. 

Social  element  of  the  gospel,   13. 

S.  P.  C.  K.,  252. 

Society  of  Jesus:  organized,  206; 
Xavier  its  first  missionary,  207 
seq.;  its  missions  in  America,  217; 
Parkman's  account  of,  218  seq.; 
significance  of  its  missions,  221; 
deceived    by    Moravians,    268. 

Soissons,  council  of,   114. 

Southey,  Robert,  on  Carey  and  his 
work,   296. 

Spangenberg,    August    Gottlieb,    276. 

Spener,  Jacob,  founder  of  Pietism, 
227. 

Stanley,     Henry     M:     finds     Living- 


368 


INDEX 


stone,    357;    his    later    discoveries, 

358. 
Stephen    (Pope),    118. 
Stephen,  Wafdensian  bishop,  268. 
Stuart,  Moses,  329. 
Student  Volunteers,   341. 
Sturm,  successor  of  Boniface,  121. 
Suevi,  conversion  of,  55. 
Sweden,    Ansgar's    mission    to,    132, 

134,    135- 

Tamil,  Ziegenbalg's  translations  into, 

235. 
Tara,   Patrick  at,    74. 
Tertullian,    on    Christianity    in    Brit- 
ain, 63. 
Teutonic    conquests:     of    Rome,     47 

seq.;  in  Britain,  83. 
Theodoric,   king   of   Italy,    46. 
Theodore,  archbishop  of  Canterbury, 

96. 
Thomas  Aquinas,  and  Lull,   173. 
Thomas,  John,  Carey's  associate,  292, 

294. 
Thirty  Years'  War,  227,  268. 
Timothy,  conversion  of,  26. 
Tours,   battle  of,   98. 
Tranquebar,     234,     243,     247,     2^.9, 

250. 
Trichinopoli,   252,   253. 
Tunis,    Lull's    mission    to,    175. 
Turks,  Loyola  plans  mission  to,  20';, 

309. 

UgoHno,  Cardinal,  189,  191,  197. 
(See  Gregory  IX.) 

Ulfilas:  early  history  of,  48;  mis- 
sionary labors  of,  49;  version  of, 
so,  151;  extent  of  labors,  52. 

Unitas  Fratrum:  rise  of,  267;  Luther 
on,  268;  established  at  Herrnhut, 
269;  revival  among,  271;  missions 
of,  272  seq.;  settlements  of  in 
America,  276;  their  missionary 
methods,   277-22,2. 

Universities,  the  age  of,  169. 

Vandals:  in  Spain,  45;  in  Africa, 
46;  their  Arianism,  54;  their  in- 
tolerance, 55. 

Varus,   defeat  of,   44. 

Vladimir:  career  of,  as  pagan,  154; 
sends   embassy   to    Constantinople, 


155;  conversion  of,   156;  his  char- 
acter and  influence,  157. 

Waldensians :  and  Scripture,  149; 
connection    with    Moravians,    268. 

Warneck,    on   pietism,    229. 

Webb,  Captain,  and  American 
Methodism,   64. 

Wesley,  John,  64,  65,  210. 

Western  empire,  fall  of,  43. 

West  Indies,  Moravian  missions  in, 
273  seq.,  293. 

Westphalia,  peace  of,  225. 

Whitby,  conference  at,  96. 

Wiclif,  285.  : 

Winfrith.      (See    Boniface.)  i 

Wilder,  Robert  P.,  341. 

Williams  College,  missionary  so- 
ciety at,  325. 

Willibrord,  missionary  in  Germany, 
103,  104,   108. 

Xavier,  Francis:  early  life  of,  204; 
friend  of  Loyola,  205;  missionary 
to  India,  207;  first  year's  work, 
208,  209;  baptizes  all  infants, 
211;  ignorance  of  the  language, 
211,  212;  miracles  attributed  to, 
212;  his  failure,  213;  goes  to  Ja- 
pan, 215;  starts  for  China,  death, 

2X6. 

Zacharias,   Pope,    117. 

Zeisberger,  David:  missionary  to 
American  Indians,  276;  prevents 
Indian  war,   277. 

Ziegenbalg,  Bartholomew:  first 
Protestant  missionary,  231;  early 
life  of,  232;  education  and  ordi- 
nation, 233;  begins  labors  in 
India,  235;  translates  Bible,  236; 
receives  reenforcements,  237;  oc- 
casional rashness,  238;  warm  re- 
ception in  Europe,  240;  his  mar- 
riage, 241;  final  labors  of,  242; 
contrasted  with  Schwartz,  252, 
292. 

Zinzendorf,  Count:  offers  refuge  to 
Moravians,  269;  early  life  of,  270; 
his  marriage,  271;  becomes  Mo- 
ravian leader,  272',  banishment  of, 
275;  in  America,  ibid;  character, 
282. 


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